Should I Stay Or Should I Go?
by Totally4Ryo
Summary: Jack and Ianto delay plans with their families because something came through the Rift (no surprise there), but Ianto has an encounter that could change their history and turn the team into a shadow of itself. A CoE fix-it and crossover with Doctor Who. M-preg
1. Chapter 1

Title: Should I Stay Or Should I Go 1/?  
Characters/Pairing: Jack, Ianto, Toshiko, Gwen, Owen, Doctor (10 & 11), Amy, Rory, quick mention of Rose Tyler, Donna Noble, Martha Jones, Sarah Jane Smith, Jackie Tyler, Mickey Smith; Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys, Amy/Rory, possible Tosh/Owen  
Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood. If I did, nobody would have to write these type of fics. The BBC claims it.  
Warnings: the usual for me: slash, MPREG plus a side serving of character death (implied permanent, but not really).  
Summary: Jack and Ianto delay plans with their families because something came through the Rift (no surprise there), but Ianto has an encounter that could change their history and turn the team into a shadow of itself.  
Notes: This was written for the Non-Anniversary challenge at Long Live Ianto on LiveJournal. The prompt was by cjharknessgirl : _#10 - Time Beetles fall through the Rift and attach themselves to Jack and Ianto because they're both immortal and have the Vortex running trough them (the choice of how Ianto became immortal is up to the author). The Beetles then show them everything that could've happened from Exit Wounds on if they had made one decision differently (this decision could be the way Ianto became immortal) and up to the moment in Thames House. And then if the author wants the Doctor could show up and rid them of the Beetles._ I took a little liberty from the post - only Ianto gets the Time Beetle in this. I'm still working on it, but I wanted to have at least one chapter before tonight is over.

**June, 2011**

"Jack, stop pacing!" Ianto snapped from where he was in the kitchen.

Jack stopped his pacing, standing in place and turned his head toward the archway to the kitchen. "How do you?"

"I hear you," came the reply.

"I'm not certain this is a good idea," Jack stated. He ran a nervous hand through his hair as he went over to the couch and dropped in it. "She's not going to take it well."

Ianto appeared in the doorway, wiping his hands with a tea towel. "At least Alice knows about you. What worries me is when we tell Rhia. She knows nothing about you, except that I chose to live out with rest of my life with you." Ianto shrugged. "Of course, she has no idea just how long my life is going to be." He gave Jack a coy smile.

Jack held out his hand and crooked his finger. "C'mere, Harkness-Jones," he said.

Ianto placed the towel on a counter near the door in the kitchen and went into the living room. "What?" he asked.

Jack patted the place next to him on the couch. "Sit with me."

Ianto did as requested to find himself being enveloped in Jack's arm. Kissing the side of his head, Jack murmured, "I'm still so sorry about that, Ianto."

"It's not your fault, Jack. It's not like you made the decision that I should be immortal. It just happened," Ianto reminded Jack once again. "And since then, what happened? We moved in together. We got married. We decided we wanted a family." Ianto pulled away from Jack, but placed his hands on Jack's shoulders. Looking deep into his lover's eyes, he asked, "Would have have allowed yourself all that if I wasn't immortal? Or would you have continued to fight the fact that you had fallen in love with me?"

Jack had the grace to blush slightly. "Well, I'm sorry you have the same curse that I do, but I have to admit I'm not sorry I get to spend eternity with you."

Ianto moved his hands behind Jack's head and moved close his head until his lips were a hair's wide from Jack's lips. "You'll never be alone, Jack. I don't have to worry about dying on you. We have each other. That's not a curse to me." Ianto lightly kissed Jack, but pulled away before the older immortal man had a chance to deepen the kiss. He removed one of his hands from behind Jack's head and placed it on the other man's abdomen. "And now we're having a family. It doesn't get better than that." He grinned at Jack a moment before frowning slightly. "And I thought we dealt with my immortality years ago. And yet it keeps coming up still."

"I know. I guess my nerves are shot with telling Alice and your sister about the baby," Jack admitted.

"You think a little?" Ianto asked. He leaned over to softly kiss Jack. "And because of not knowing how Alice is going to handle having a little brother or sister, your insecurity is rearing its ugly head again. I get it, Jack. I have my moments too."

Jack gave Ianto a smile. "As always, thanks for understanding." He moved to kiss Ianto again, but was distracted by Ianto's mobile going off. He planned to make Ianto ignore the phone, knowing he had very persuasive methods, but he was distracted by his Vortex Manipulator going off. "Damn," he muttered. "Rift alert." He watched as Ianto took out his mobile.

Ianto checked the caller ID and answered. "Tosh? What do you have?" He listened for a bit and then looked over at Jack, who started to check his wriststrap. "Massive Rift spike in Barry," Ianto said. He went over to an end table and grabbed a piece of paper off a scratch pad and jotted down notes.

"I have the coordinates," Jack said and made a sound. "Wow, that's a big one. Tell Tosh to have the team meet us."

Ianto nodded. "Tosh, Jack said you, Owen and Gwen meet me at the coordinates." He ignored the look Jack gave him. He said his goodbye and hung up. As he placed the phone in his pocket, he looked back to Jack. "I'm going to meet the team. You are going to call Alice and tell her that we're going to be delayed." When he noticed the relieved, hopeful look on Jack's face, he knew immediately what went through his partner's head. "We will be there tonight. Just a little later than planned. And as long as you get to spend some time with Stephen, it doesn't matter if he has to go to sleep before we leave. We can set it up so you can take him to lunch during the week to make up time you could have spent with him." He smiled at Jack. "I have faith in Alice, Jack, so get that look off your face."

Jack let out a heavy sigh. "Fine. I'll call her, and then I'm going to the Hub and run communications."

Ianto moved closer to Jack, slipping his arms around the older man's waist and placed his lips against Jack's. They indulged in a short, but deep kiss. As they broke apart, Ianto rested his forehead against Jack's. "I'll try to make it as fast as possible without endangering anyone."

"I'll contact you through the comms when I get to the Hub," Jack said as he walked with Ianto to the door. He grabbed Ianto for another quick kiss. "Try to stay safe. I know you come back, but as you know it isn't easy until then."

"It doesn't seem to be something large," Ianto started and saw the look on Jack's face as the older man started to open his mouth. Ianto cut him off. "I know, it doesn't have to be large to be dangerous."

"That was a very large spike," Jack reminded Ianto.

"Understood. Big massive spike and little object. Hopefully not too small that would make it hard to fine. I'll meet you back at the Hub and then we can go to Alice's from there." Ianto pulled Jack to him for one more kiss. He rested his hand on the small swell of Jack's abdomen that was not yet noticeable while Jack was dressed. With a tender smile, Ianto looked down. "Don't make Daddy too sick, baban."

"Love you," Jack said as Ianto left the house.

"Love you too," Ianto replied as he looked back, and then he was down the path, heading toward the SUV that they had as a back up vehicle for times they were called out to the field from home.

OoOoOoO

"Nothing yet, Ianto," Owen's voice came through Ianto's comm unit.

Ianto sighed and looked over to Gwen, who looked up from her PDA. They had just went through a shop in hopes of finding what came through the Rift.

"I can't pinpoint it," Tosh's voice came through the comms from where she was on the other side of the alley with Owen.

"Jack," Ianto asked, switching his comm so they were all able to communicate as a team, "what are you getting?"

"Just Rift energy," Jack replied. He sounded thoroughly frustrated. "And it's on the move fast."

"How far from us is it now?" Gwen asked, shaking her PDA in vexation.

"In the area... I think," Jack said. "I'm still picking up the residual energy, but it's old. Nothing new. I'll send you the perimeter coordinates."

Ianto looked over Gwen's shoulder as she pulled up the information on her PDA. "Right," he started. "We split up and cover more ground and hopefully find whatever it is." He checked his watch and sighed. "Some of us had plans tonight."

"Still not too late, Ianto," Jack assured him, on the channel for only Ianto to hear.

"We'll do our best," Ianto replied on the same channel and then switching so all could hear him, he continued, "Tosh and Owen, work it out on which ways you'll go. I'll do the same with Gwen. I noticed we're near the center of the perimeter, so Gwen and I will stay on this side, while you both stay continue on your side."

"I suggest starting in the immediate area and then systematically branch out." Jack added.

"What Jack said," Ianto stated and waited for the others to acknowledge. Everyone seemed to agree, which surprised Ianto. He glanced over at Gwen. They all had their turns on speaking up on reservations, but if no one else had any problems with a plan, Gwen would always have something to say. Most times it was a good thing, double checking, giving a last thought before following through, or sometimes not, but there were times they could have done without.

"Everyone keep their comms open," he said, trying to ignore the nagging sense of dread. "Jack, track us please."

"Already have been," Jack said, referring to the new nanotechnology which provided visual from each of them, providing almost a 360 degree view, depending on the person who was doing the tracking. Tosh had developed it, along with Ianto, using the technology of the contact lenses Martha Jones had used when she infiltrated the Pharm. "I have everyone covered. So if I give coordinates, I want the rest of you to run like hell and be there as back up."

"Got it, Jack," Tosh said and they heard her and Owen starting to work out their game plan.

Gwen nodded. "Okay."

Again Ianto felt the feeling of something about to go wrong. "You're our eyes, Jack," he said and then conferred with Gwen, who allowed him to decide which directions they would go. He wished her well and headed off on his own.

While he went onto his next destination, he spoke to Jack on the private channel. "You know I'm going to be fine, Jack. Worry about the others."

"I know, Ianto. But it doesn't make it easier when something happens to you. I'm doing my best to make sure you're all okay. Is that alright with you, Ianto?"

"No," Ianto replied, understanding where Jack was coming from. He felt the same whenever Jack was injured or killed. "I'm sorry this is taking so long."

"I'm going to tell Alice we'll be around day after tomorrow. It's just not going to happen tonight. And no need to push talking to Rhiannon because of it."

"Jack," Ianto sighed. "Rhiannon may be my sister, but Alice is your daughter. And in a few months will no longer be your only child."

"She's a big girl, Ianto. She did fine without me in her life for all those years."

"And she's doing better having you in it," Ianto reminded him. "We agreed we'll talk to Alice first, and then Rhia. So you call Alice and set up for tomorrow, And when I'm done here, I'll call Rhia and have her come over the day after. And then when I get home tonight, I'll make it worth your while."

"Really? Anything?"

"Whatever you want."

"You drive a hard bargain, Ianto Harkness-Jones. That's why I'm glad you're my second."

Ianto smiled softly but said, "Right. Enough now. Work to do."

"Good luck, Ianto. The others haven't found anything yet."

Ianto remained silent, while listening to the others on the comm, only answering when someone asked him a question. He went through shops and inside buildings for a couple of blocks, also coming up empty. Jack had reported that the trail had stopped, with nothing new to follow. He was convinced it was somewhere within the parameters he was still getting readings from, although in some areas the reading were fading.

He found himself standing before a shop with a sign above hanging above him, declaring psychic readings inside. To Ianto's chagrin, the shopkeeper would not allow him to look around without her giving him a reading first. Jack suggested that he humour the shopkeeper, and let her give him a reading, that whatever he spent will be paid by the Torchwood account, and to keep his eyeball rolling to a minimum. Ianto quickly agreed, mostly because he had a strong feeling that whatever they were looking for was in there.

He allowed himself to be seated and accepted her offer of tea, putting it to the side, but having no intention of drinking it. The pungent, spicy and pleasing aroma wafted up his nostrils. It most likely was a good home blend of an old recipe, but Ianto decided he was not going to take chances while on the job.

She took his right hand and held it in her two hands to study it. After a minute, she ran a finger along the lines in the palm of his hand and looked up. Her dark brown eyes met his. Ianto started to feel uncomfortable with the gaze. Only Jack was allowed to look through his eyes to his soul, but he swore this psychic reader, this stranger, was now doing that and he was open for her to read.

"You appear young, but your soul is old," she stated in hushed tones. She broke the gaze and stared down at his palm. A finger went along his lifeline. "Your life has ended and yet you live." She looked up at him again. "Your lifeline stops and yet goes on...forever."

Ianto tried not to shift noticeably in his seat, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable.

"What the hell?" Jack's voice came through his comm unit. "It's as if she could figure out that you're..."

"How did this happen?" she asked. Her eyes met his again. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed she moved the cup closer to him so he could once again inhale the aroma.

"What are you talking about?" Ianto asked in a level tone, not will to easily give away secrets.

"You died."

"Obviously not because I'm here alive," he replied with a snort.

A slow smile grew on her face. "You are the one I've been looking for."

"Excuse me?" Ianto asked. He was starting to feel sleepy.

"When did it happen?"

"When did what?" Ianto started to feel light-headed. He wanted to put his head down and close his eyes for minute.

"Get out of there, Ianto!" Jack insisted through the comm.

"It's here," Ianto said, his voice now slurred. "I know it is." He forced his eyes to lock on the reader's.

It was a mistake as he felt himself getting lost in her brown orbs. "It is," she grinned. She reached over to brush her fingers in his hair near the ear with the comm unit. With a yank, she pulled it away from him and dropped it on the floor at her feet. She stepped on it, rendering it useless. "You are a special one, Ianto Jones. That's why I'm here. For you."

"How do you know my name?"

"That's not important. What is important is that you are going to tell me about the first time you died."

"Obviously I didn't die," Ianto said, but it sounded flat to him.

She leaned across the table and lifted the cup to Ianto's lips. "You look parched. This should make you feel better."

Before Ianto knew what was happening, he found himself drinking the tea.

"Now, Ianto Jones, tell me about the first time you died."

_He was in the warehouse where they had found the space whale. After a struggle with the ringleader who was selling meat from the alien, Ianto found himself on on the floor. He almost had overpowered Dale, but it wasn't enough. He was currently staring up into the barrel of gun. Jack was trapped on the other side of the warehouse, split up by the alien whale that was in pain. Rhys was on the floor behind Jack, bleeding with Gwen doing what she could to help him. She was yelling to Jack to help her. Jack was frozen in his place. Ianto stared past the gun up to the man holding it._

"_You should have stayed away," Dale said. "Now die!" and he pulled the trigger._

_Ianto heard Jack's scream of "NO!" and then he felt the pain in his chest. He heard the gun's rapport only as an after fact as he fell backward to the floor, loosing blood. He was barely aware of another gun going off. Dale's footsteps stopped suddenly, followed by a thud. Ianto assumed Jack took care of Dale._

_Too bad it was too late._

_Jack was yelling, screaming in denial as Ianto felt his life slip from him. He managed to move his head, look at Jack, both of them divided by the space whale. Jack reached his arms out helplessly._

"_Don't leave me, Ianto!" he cried out._

"_S-sorry, Jack. I...I'm...sorry," he gasped. He felt the darkness start to envelope him._

"_Ianto! Don't... please! I love you. Don't leave me!" Jack started to scramble around like crazy, trying to find a way over to Ianto._

"_J-jack... I-I lo-" Ianto could not fight it any longer and succumbed to the darkness, believing it was it for him._

Ianto looked at the woman, seeing the smile on her face.

"First death," she said. "And then what?"

_One moment there was nothing but darkness, pitch black and free floating, the next his eyes were suddenly snapping open. His body shuddered as he took his first breath. His lungs felt like they were on fire, the feeling going to his veins and through his body. He managed a curse, remembering what Jack had said about coming back to life feeling like being run over glass._

_**Wait,**__ Ianto thought, his eyes opening more and his arms reaching out, fingers digging into the nearest thing available. __**Coming back to life? Well shit! Of all the STDs...**_

_He heard something like a frightened squawk and then a cry. He realized he was being cradled by a weeping Jack when he, Ianto Jones, decided to make his comeback. It was Jack's flesh that his fingers were digging into. He doubted Jack noticed or if he did, cared because suddenly he was being hugged tighter with Jack kissing his face._

"_Ianto! Oh my God! You're back! Oh God, you're back!" Jack continued to cry until his lips found Ianto's and then he finally fell silent._

_And that was when they discovered that Ianto Jones was also immortal. No one died that day, not even Rhys, who Owen patched up. Then they sent Gwen and Rhys home. Jack was so happy to have another chance with Ianto after thinking he lost him, he did not think of needing to Retcon Rhys. That would be a decision to be made between Jack and Ianto. Ianto decided to convince Jack to let Rhys be. It would be good for Gwen to be able to talk and not keep secrets from Rhys. If it didn't work out, then Ianto would be having lagers in a pub with Rhys. And maybe even Gwen, depending on the situation._

_The most important think on their minds were how? How was Ianto immortal? What had happened?_


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

Ianto blinked with a start, feeling as if he was dragging himself away from a downward spiral. His eyes sought out the reader's brown ones.

"What did you see?" she asked him.

"I – I was shot. I died."

"Where?"

"In the warehouse where they were keeping that poor alien," Ianto replied, unable to stop himself.

"And you woke up."

"Yes."

_Ianto was with Jack in the Captain's office, having poured drinks for both of them. Ianto sat on the edge of Jack's desk, watching the older man. Jack's hand trembled slightly as he sipped the expensive brandy. The glass was in one hand, while the other rubbed Ianto's leg, as if reassuring himself that the young Welshman was still there._

* * *

Ianto found he was both amused and confused about what had happened, and still very concerned for Jack. He was also surprised. He knew there was more than just sex between the two, and that they had feelings for each other, but as Ianto watched Jack he realized that the Captain's feelings just might actually run as deeply as Ianto's did.

Ianto took a large gulp and set his now empty glass on the desk surface. He covered the hand still on his leg and entwined their fingers together.

Jack looked up at Ianto and the younger man had to do a double take.

**Is that really a shy look on Jack? **He studied the man before him. With a soft sigh, he gave Jack a gentle smile. "Honestly, Jack. I'm not going anywhere." He squeezed Jack's hand. "Unless you want me to."

Jack shook his head. "No. Never. I-I..." Jack glanced down for a moment, his fingers moving but not pulling away from Ianto's hold. Finally he looked up. "I thought I lost you today." He shook his head. "I did lose you today. You died, Ianto."

"I did." Ianto had to agree with Jack.

"I'm glad that you... you didn't stay dead."

Jack was really at a loss for words, which could possibly be more of a miracle than Ianto's coming back to life. Jack always knew what to say and how to say it.

**Except the time Jack asked me out on a date when we were travelling with the Doctor, **Ianto thought to himself. But even that wasn't as bad as poor Jack trying to talk to Ianto at the moment.

"I'm glad I didn't either," Ianto replied. He was glad his life wasn't quite over yet, that he had still more time.

**Oh hell, it's very likely I have all of time now.** His eyes glanced down at his nervous lover and he smiled softly. **If he's feeling the same way I am, then we have a very long time to enjoy this second chance. **As he watched Jack, Ianto realized that more than his own well being, he found he was relieved that Jack did not lose another lover that day. The way Jack was acting, Ianto was really glad he did not stay dead. He doubted the Captain would have handled his death very well. His mind went back to when he had come back and what he had first noticed. No, Jack had not been dealing with his death very well indeed. Ianto hoped that now Jack never would have to.

There was a knock on the door to Jack's office and the door flew open before Jack had a chance to open his mouth. Owen entered, waving the papers he held in his hand and strode across the office until he was standing before Jack's desk. "Jesus bloody Christ, Jack!" Owen exclaimed.

Toshiko entered, more timidly, but after casting a quick glance at Jack, then Ianto went to sit down in one of the chairs, putting her slightly behind Owen and to the side. She held a folder and her PDA.

Jack held his hands up defensively and leaned back slightly in his seat, but not far enough to maintain his contact with Ianto. Ianto shifted slightly so he was able to twist his upper half and look at the agitated doctor.

"I assume the results came back from the testing?" Ianto asked smoothly.

"Yes," Owen exclaimed, shaking the papers he gripped in Ianto's direction. "Being that I now know what to look for in our Captain, I decided to look for anything of the same in you, Tea-boy. And guess what?" Ianto and Jack both opened their mouths to reply, but did not have the chance. "Exact match!" Owen exclaimed. "In the immortality test, that is. You still have different blood types. But there's a new strand in Ianto's DNA which matches that odd, mostly hidden strand in yours, Captain Immortal!"

"So that's it then?" Ianto asked softly, finding himself overwhelmed with the knowledge. "I'm not going to die?"

Owen shook his head. "Not any time soon."

Jack's immediately response was a huge grin as he jumped out of his chair to pull Ianto into a tight embrace. His lips met Ianto's and he kissed him deeply, fingers running through Ianto's hair. As soon as he started, he pulled back slightly and his eyes met Ianto's. "I'm sorry, Ianto," he said. "I'm sorry you have my curse. And I'm even sorrier that it makes me happy. Because, Ianto Jones, I always want you with me."

Owen coughed loudly, and Ianto was certain Tosh was blushing but not taking her eyes off them. He had found their quiet little Toshiko's stash a few weeks ago, but decided to keep it his secret that he knew their resident tech kept clips from CCTV of Jack and Ianto in intimate moments. Clips that, before being carefully erased, were saved into a file that should have been accessed only by Jack and Ianto. However this was Toshiko, and Ianto was not surprised that she had managed to break into it and copy them into her own folder for safekeeping.

The two men decided to ignore Owen's loud, fake coughing.

"I always want to be with you," Ianto replied a little softer than Jack had spoken, not wanting Owen to hear everything.

Jack leaned closer until his mouth was by Ianto's ear, his warm breath caressing Ianto's ear shell. "I love you, Jones, Ianto Jones," Jack whispered, making certain that only Ianto hear the declaration.

Tears sprung to Ianto's eyes as Jack moved his head to rest his forehead against Ianto's. His fingers still played with the strands of Ianto's dark short hair.

Ianto grinned as he cupped Jack's face in his hands. "I love you too," Ianto found he was able to finally say.

By unspoken consent, those three words had never been spoken between them, even if Ianto had no doubts about how Jack felt about him – most of the time. He still had his moments of insecurity, but a simple gesture by Jack would quickly erase any doubts. Yet, they still feared to say those words, to dare to plan a life together. Ianto feared that it was too late already and that Jack would be heartbroken when Ianto eventually would have to leave him, most likely sooner because of Torchwood, but if they took the relationship further it would only cause Jack more pain. So no one said those words.

Until now, because they no longer had to worry about Ianto suddenly being ripped from Jack's life.

* * *

Suddenly Ianto was back in the small psychic reader's shop. He was aware that most readers were fakes, but there were some around who were the genuine thing. There was also that child, who had been around Cardiff as long as Jack had been, and who knew how much longer before. She was still a child. She would still sometimes appear to offer some small assistance that could only come from her gift. She was still a mystery to them, but as long as she helped rather than caused trouble, they let her be. Ianto managed to get a good look at the woman before him and realized that her gift was not of anything born on this planet. He tore his eyes from her and attempted to stand up.

She reached across the table and held that damn cup under his nose, the aroma going up his nostrils. He felt himself unable to make his body move. She moved the cup to his lips and he found himself drinking more of the strange brew.

"I knew you would be harder to break," she stated as she pushed him down in the chair. "So I made sure I was prepared." She made him take another sip. He glanced up at her with worried eyes. She chuckled. "Oh, don't look like that, Ianto Harkness-Jones. It can't kill you, right? Not now, when you're immortal. Unfortunately, your immortality is a hindrance to the one who hired me sometime far off in the future." He cupped Ianto's chin in her hand and gave him a sinister smile. "Because I am the only one who can undo what has been done. Now..." He shook the hand still holding onto Ianto's face and said between her teeth, "Tell me when it happened."

Ianto gasped and jerked as he felt the world do a flip. "No!"

"Oh, yes. And you do talk while you're reliving those precious moments. So, you were where when it happened?"

Ianto tried to prevent his mind from thinking back to the time, but to his horror he could not stop it.

_Jack had defeated Abaddon. Everything had gone back to the way it was. Rhys was alive, all the displaced people were back in their own times. But the Hub was still in shambles from when they had opened the Rift._

* * *

And Jack was still dead.

When Owen and Gwen had returned to the Hub with Jack's lifeless body, Gwen kept insisting that Jack would wake up soon. Despite their shock of Jack coming back to life from a bullet in the head thanks to Owen, both Toshiko and Owen seemed to have trouble believing it. Like it had been some fluke, something...Torchwood, was Owen's description. Ianto knew better and was also waiting for Jack to come back to them. Having access to the Archives, Ianto had dug up old files dating back to the turn of the century and realized that Jack had been part of Torchwood since 1899. He also had been watching the scene by the invisible lift on CCTV the night Suzie killed herself. She saw her shoot Jack in the head only for Jack to get up soon after, with no trace of the bullet wound.

It was after Estelle Cole had been killed that Ianto finally managed to get the truth out of Jack, swearing it would be his secret. While Jack was still building up the ability to trust the young Welshman, one thing Jack could not doubt was that Ianto was able to keep a secret. So that night, after the others had left, everyone still angry at Jack for allowing Jasmine to go with the fairies, Ianto had stayed behind to comfort Jack. Ianto could tell that Jack had lost someone he had loved. And during his suspension because of the Cyberwoman incident, Jack still had been there for Ianto, helping him through the worse of the pain of losing a loved one. It was during that night, while Jack talked about how he had met Estelle that opened up the way for Ianto to ask and he had learned that night about Jack's immortality. But knowing was different than seeing it, and the first time Ianto had seen it was when everyone believed Owen had killed Jack, and then Jack had grabbed onto Ianto's leg.

He studied the others assembled around the drawer Jack was set upon, realizing everyone had taken it in good stride. Then again, with everything else that was going on, it was small wonder. Immortal man versus massive ages old beast destroying Cardiff .

Bloody Torchwood.

Owen had dressed Jack in a white hospital gown when they brought his body back to the Hub. That was twelve hours ago, and he still did not wake. Ianto was afraid that Jack had given up whatever it was that made him immortal to destroy Abaddon. Gwen was still insisting that Jack would come back.

"He's cold as a stiff, Gwen," Owen snapped. "Look at his pallor. He's dead, Gwen. And I'm tired. We're all tired and we should just get this over with and go home finally."

A gasp came from Toshiko and they all looked at her. With horrified eyes, the Japanese woman stared up at Owen. "How could you be so cold? Jack is dead," she asked, her voice cutting into a sob at the last word.

"Bloody hell, Tosh, we thought he was dead when I shot him. I thought we got past this then?" Owen snapped back.

"You did. We didn't," Ianto stated quietly, his eyes on Jack. He noticed Gwen was holding one of Jack's pale cold hands in her.

"Right. Well, twelve hours is enough of a wake, I say. If any of you think to give more for me when it's my time, I swear I'll come back somehow just to put a stop to it."

"Right now, I wouldn't give you twelve minutes," Gwen said hotly. "Don't close it up yet. He'll come back. I know he will."

Owen rolled his eyes. Tosh looked worried. Ianto's eyes were on Gwen's hand still holding Jack's.

"Look, I'll stay here while the rest of you move on with your lives, since it's too much trouble," Gwen remarked irritably.

"It's not that it's too much trouble, Gwen," Toshiko said gently, sadness lacing her tone. "It's just... Jack's gone, Gwen. Look at him. He's not coming back."

"Jack is dead, Gwen," Owen snapped. "I'm sorry that he is. Yes, it's a bloody shame, but he's dead. And from looking at him, I highly suggest that he needs to start getting iced soon."

"I'll handle it when I'm ready," Gwen said. "

_**If **__he doesn't wake up by then."_

"If it starts smelling in here, you will be the one doing the closing. Because I warned you. C'mon Tosh. The Hub is a wreck and I highly doubt that tea-boy will want to be doing all the clean-up himself."

Ianto rolled his eyes and watched as Owen started to leave. Tosh gave Ianto and Gwen a small, timid smile. "He's right. We should be cleaning up the Hub," she said.

"I'll be there shortly," Ianto said kindly and gave her a sad smile.

She nodded and turned to follow Owen.

"I'll be fine, Ianto," Gwen said as she started to brush invisible lint from Jack's shoulders. "He is coming back. He told me that he could never die." She looked up. "I know this is a surprise to you, but it's true."

Ianto glanced down at Jack. He wanted it to be true. "H-how many times has he died in front of you?" Ianto asked.

"Before this? Just the once. That was before Suzie shot herself."

Ianto nodded. "He got up pretty quickly then. Didn't take him too long after Owen shot him. But this..." he indicated the lifeless body before them. Jack was deadly white, rigour mortis having long set in. "Maybe whatever it took to kill off that beast was enough to take whatever it was that kept bringing him back."

Gwen looked up at Ianto sharply, a frown on her face. "You knew?"

Ianto almost snorted. "Of course I did."

"How?"

"It's none of your concern." Ianto's eyes settled on that damn hand holding Jack's. Finally he looked up at Gwen. "Go home, Gwen," he stated in an authoritative tone that he rarely used. The last time he'd used it on Gwen was back at the ballroom. She had listened to him then. Unfortunately from the way she was staring back at him, he wasn't going to have the same results that time.

"No, Ianto! I'm not going to leave him for dead!" she exclaimed. "I'm going to sit here with him for however long it takes. Abaddon was strong and it was a horrible death. It's just taking him longer. That's all. You're not going to make me leave so you can lock him up in that drawer."

Ianto moved quickly and his hand was on hers. He pulled her hand away from Jack's, watching the arm of his dead lover fall. It stood out stiffly from the slab of the cell. Gwen turned and went to slap him. Ianto grabbed that hand and stopped her.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Gwen demanded. "You're not in charge around here, you know."

"Neither are you, despite what you believe," Ianto snapped, releasing her hand and taking a step away from her.

Gwen's eyes went to Jack.

"He'll be in charge if he comes back. Until then, we'll have to sort ourselves out and decide on a leader. However, right now, right here, between you and me, I happen to have seniority on you when it comes to this organization. And I'm telling you to leave now. Don't stop in the Hub except to collect your bag and keys and go home, Gwen." He walked around the drawer putting it between him and Gwen. He did not feel like getting into a fight with Gwen. He was tired, but he was more tired of her acting as if Jack was her love, while he stood off on the sidelines and watched.

Not this time.

"I want to stay, Ianto!" Gwen insisted, her tone more pleading than angry. "Can't you understand?"

"What I can't understand is why you aren't at home with the man you love so much that you put Jack's life at stake to get him back? That's what I can't understand, Gwen. You have Rhys. He's alive and waiting for you to come home. So go and be with him." Ianto picked up the cold hand that rested on Jack's chest and placed it between his two. He finally allowed his tears to fall silently down his face. "While I stay here and sit with Jack."

Gwen stared at Ianto for a few moments, suddenly seeing the truth. "You and Jack...?" she started softly.

Ianto nodded. "Yes. At first it was only supposed to be to throw him off from my hiding Lisa. But something happened. It happened even before she was discovered. I tried to fight it, because I felt as if I was being unfaithful to her, but I couldn't. I don't know if it's love, but it hurts, Gwen. It hurts that I might never have a chance to figure it out for sure."

Gwen softly walked around the drawer and put her arms around Ianto, hugging him. "I'd say you already know your answer, pet. Just don't give up believing in him, Ianto."

Ianto nodded. "I have to believe. I don't want to think about him not being with... us."

Gwen leaned up to kiss his cheek. "I'm going home to Rhys. But if Owen gives you any trouble, or tries to bully you away from Jack before he wakes up, you call me and we'll both set him right. Okay?"

"Yep. Thanks."

Gwen finally turned and walked away from the cell, heading for the door to lead her toward the main part of the Hub.

Ianto continued to cry silently, holding onto Jack's hand. "Oh Jack. Why? I want to believe you're not gone, but looking at you, I'm scared. I'm scared that we'll never get to see where this will lead us." Ianto saw a folded stool and pulled it over to sit on. He picked up Jack's hand again as he sat down. "I didn't ask to fall in love with you. I had Lisa, but I couldn't resist you. And then, she was gone. And you were so angry. Rightfully so. I did betray you. Betray your trust. And for a while, I felt so empty. I had nothing. I really thought I had nothing to live for. But you showed up at my flat on the first day of my suspension." Ianto smiled gently. "It wasn't exactly easy those first couple of weeks, but you succeeded. By the time I came back, I was still hurting, but I had hope. You gave me hope. I even found out later that you gave me life because Lisa had killed me. Eventually you gave me a reason to pick up and live again. And I did, Jack. Whatever time I got to spend with you, I felt alive and not just going through the motions. How could I not fall in love with you." Ianto freed one of his hands to cup the side of Jack's cold, hard face. "Of course, I'd never say that to you if I knew you could hear me. But it's true. I love you, Jack. Come back. Please?"

Ianto rested his head next to Jack's. "This can't be the end, Jack. Open you eyes. I want to see your eyes again. I refuse to believe I'll never see that brilliant smile of yours. C'mon on, Jack." He moved his head so his lips were against Jack's cold ones and started to kiss him. As much as Ianto wanted to believe it wasn't the end, he found himself kissing Jack as if he would never have the chance again. He never gave thought to when he managed to pry Jack's mouth open enough so he could breathe into his dead lover's mouth while he deepened the kiss.

He was not aware of the golden glow that had started to surround him, and continued to surround Jack. He had no idea that his ice blue eyes had turned gold. He was aware of the moment when Jack had started to kiss him back. With joy, he continued to deepen the kiss, enjoying the sensation of Jack's tongue exploring his mouth, of an arm on his back, becoming lighter as rigour mortis receded.

When they finally broke the kiss, Ianto was panting. He felt dizzy and drained, yet elated and excited. Jack was back! His Jack was alive again!

He helped Jack into a seated position. Jack lifted his arms to pull Ianto's head close and kissed him again. "Thank you," Jack sighed.

Ianto grinned and caught Jack's lower lip with his lips. "No," he murmured. "Thank you."

* * *

~tbc~


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

"So," the woman who sat across from Ianto stated slowly. "You kissed your Sleeping Beauty dead lover and it made you immortal? How are you certain?"

Ianto shook his head, trying not to give into her to keep a hold on the present and not allow his mind to focus on...

_The TARDIS control room had been very crowded. Besides Jack, Ianto, Rose, and Donna with the Doctor, there was a human duplicate of the Doctor. They'd also had other former Companions with them, having all ended up on the Crucible and the TARDIS being their only way home. There was Sarah Jane Smith, whose work both Jack and Ianto had been following . Martha Jones, who was with the Doctor that day on the Plass. There was also Rose's ex-boyfriend Mickey Smith, who had followed Rose from the alternate universe they had found themselves living in, along with Rose's mother, Jackie Tyler. They had been able to return all the planets back where they belonged. It was with Torchwood's help, and by using the Rift as a tow-line, the TARDIS towed the Earth back into its rightful place in the universe. To Ianto's amazement, he had found himself as one of the pilots of the TARDIS. He'd made Rose and Martha laugh when at one point he could not contain his glee at finding himself in his position and let out a little happy noise. Jack glanced across the console at it and winked at him, pride shining in the Captain's eyes. Donna, now Doctor Donna, had been walking by and managed to grope Ianto's butt, causing him to make an indignant noise._

"Oi! Hands off the Welshman, Red!" Jack had yelled at Donna, and everyone had laughed. They'd heard the delighted whoops of joy coming from Toshiko, Gwen, and even Owen.

Everyone but Jack and Ianto had been dropped off close to their homes – for Rose and her family, that had meant the alternate universe. The Human Doctor had also been left with Rose. The last they had seen of them before slipping back into the TARDIS, Rose and the Human Doctor had been kissing and did not notice their departure. Donna was next to last. There was a bit of a crisis, the Doctor explaining that a Human could not handle a Time Lord's mind. He was about to erase her memories of him, but Jack and Ianto had had another idea. They'd managed to absorb the excess between them and the TARDIS, using the Vortex within them. Donna had managed to maintain some of the new knowledge she had gained, but not enough to burn out her mind. The Doctor was grateful for that. Donna had wanted to go home to visit with her grandfather and mother,to assure herself that they were okay. The Doctor had dropped her off, Jack and Ianto promising that they'd stay in touch like they had with Martha and Sarah Jane, and finally it was just the three in the TARDIS.

Once the door was closed, Jack turned to face the Doctor. "You saw me coming over to the TARDIS that day you were on the Plass," he stated.

The Doctor squirmed slightly, but then placed his hands in his suit jacket's pockets and lifted his head to stare at Jack. "I did."

"I had been waiting a long time to see you again," Jack remarked. "Over a century."

"Well..."

"You abandoned him!" Ianto accused. "You left him on that satellite about 200,000 years in the future."

"I figured he'd find his own way back," the Doctor remarked casually. He went over to the console and started to fiddle with switches and dials. "What do you say to one trip before I return you to that team of yours?"

"It won't make up for what you did, Doctor," Jack said, the hurt evident in his voice. "Why? Why did you leave back then? Did you think I was dead? Was that it?"

"Why did you run when we saw you on the Plass?" Ianto asked. His tone was calm but Jack could tell it was the tone when Ianto was at his most dangerous.

The Doctor looked back at Jack, his brown eyes meeting the older immortals. "I knew you were alive," he admitted. "Or rather, that you were brought back from the dead."

"You told Rose that Jack decided to stay back and help out." Ianto stated, icy blue eyes fixed on the Doctor. "I managed to talk to Rose, find out what she knows." At the Doctor's panicked look, he raised a hand. "Oh don't worry. I just let her talk, tell me her side of things. I said nothing to her about what I suspected was the truth. She had no idea that you were running away from Jack, abandoning him."

"Yes. I had to. There was so much going on at that time," the Doctor tried to explain. His attention went to Jack "And Rose, all she wanted was to give you life again, Jack. But she had the heart of the TARDIS in her and she couldn't control it. That's why you're immortal. But like with Donna and having a Time Lord's mind, a Human cannot handle having so much of the Vortex in her, consuming her. She would have died, Jack. So I had to help her." He indicated himself with a waggle of fingers. "It caused me to regenerate."

Jack and Ianto shared a look and then Ianto's attention went to the Doctor. He was clenching his fists and ready to rage on the Doctor.

Jack placed his arm around Ianto's waist. "So?" he started quietly. "Can you fix me?"

The Doctor waved his hand in Ianto's direction. "If I fix you, I suppose I'll have to fix him too." He frowned slightly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jack insisted.

"Well, you're both immortal. Would you want him to eventually live a life without you?" the Doctor asked.

"Then I guess that means yes," Ianto said. "Doctor, can you fix us?"

The Doctor studied Ianto for a moment. "No. I can't. You're both something that should never be. You're both wrong."

Jack's eyes went wide, while Ianto's eyebrows shot up. "Wrong?" Ianto asked. "Care to explain how we are wrong?" He slipped an arm around Jack's waist. Jack was visibly attempting to mask his emotions, but Ianto could tell Jack was hurt. It mattered to Jack what the Doctor thought of him.

"It hurts even just looking at one of you. You're fixed points." The Doctor pointed his finger at first Jack, then to Ianto. "You're facts. Some things that should never be." His frown deepened. "And honestly Jack, I'm ashamed of you. Really, what were you thinking."

"What?" Jack asked, at a complete loss of what the Doctor was referring to.

"Excuse me?" Ianto asked, in that calm level tone that came before an explosion. "Are you implying what I think you are?" He snorted. "Is that even possible?"

"Yes. Obviously. Because there's you now," the Doctor replied.

"What are you both going on about?" Jack asked, now frowning. "What did I do?"

Ianto opened his mouth to start yelling at the Doctor, but stopped himself. He let out a sigh. "I suppose it is a little what you are implying. But believe me, Jack did not do it intentionally. And there was more at play. Besides, Jack was dead at the time. Very dead, and I feared he was not going to come back that time." He glanced down.

Realization dawned on Jack's face. "Oh. You think that I'm like some grandfather vampire, going around making little immortals?"

Ianto had to smile slightly at Jack's words, knowing he chose how he said it to let the Doctor know how stupid he sounded. Hopefully. He glanced up at Jack and said, "Careful there, Jack. I'm not so little. In fact, I'm not little at all." He winked at his partner, who finally laughed.

"No. You're not. Not at all."

"Oh please!" the Doctor exclaimed. "I don't need to know this!"

"No. You don't," Ianto stated hotly, his attention turning back to the Doctor. "But you need to know how wrong you are! Is that what you think of Jack? My God, the man died for you. And yet, from what I've seen so far, you still only see the conman you first met. Jack is so much more than that. He suffered and endured so much, and yet he doesn't give up hope. He could have easily turned his back on the Earth and not looked back. But he didn't. He keeps going on, making sure Cardiff is safe, that the world is safe. If he didn't care, he never would have went to find you and help you with this mess. I hate to disagree with Jack, because he still thinks you're some type of hero, some saint or something. I don't know why, because all I hear is load of bollocks coming out of your mouth."

"Ianto!" Jack exclaimed scandalized.

"No, Jack. He might be your hero, but he's not mine. And your hero did quite well in breaking your heart. And I'm not standing for it." Ianto stared back at the Doctor. "It was an accident what happened to me. A chain of events that culminated in my becoming immortal. We didn't realize it for months until I was shot and killed. I honestly thought it was the end, and Jack was devastated. It was quite a shock to us when I came back. Mind you, it wasn't the most unpleasant shock, because I can be with Jack now. He won't be alone any more. And I'll never abandon him."

To Ianto's amazement, when instead of the Doctor getting angry, he started to grin. The madman actually started to bounce on his red Converse-covered feet. Ianto winced. Talking about hurting to look – it hurt to look at the Doctor in that brown pinstriped suit and red Converse trainers.

"Brilliant!" the Doctor exclaimed.

"What is?" Jack asked cautiously, obviously as confused as Ianto at the Doctor's reaction.

"Your Mr. Jones," the Doctor replied to Jack. "He's amazing. His devotion is unmatched. You're a lucky man, Jack. I still feel you're both wrong. I can't help it. I'm a Time Lord. It's just a natural reaction to things like you."

"Things?" Ianto sputtered.

"So, what you're saying is that you're prejudiced?" Jack asked calmly. He raised an eyebrow at the Doctor's surprised expression.

"Well, yes," he said slowly, rubbing his chin with a hand. "I never thought of it like that. But I do understand that the universe if a wonderful thing. An amazing, brilliant thing. And sometimes it assures balance. You two are a universal balance. Jack shouldn't be the only one of his kind. That would be cruel. I suppose it has been." He watched as Jack nodded. "Each of you are right to each other. As Ianto said, you no longer have to be alone." His look turned thoughtful. "Hmm, I wonder if the Bad Wolf concept including Ianto becoming immortal."

"Then you can say two wrongs equal a right," Ianto said. "Am I right, Doctor?"

"Oh my! He is quite the brilliant one, Jack. You don't deserve him."

Ianto frowned, but Jack nodded vigorously and pulled Ianto to him in a hug. "No argument. But he makes me believe I do. And he did fall in love with me, would do anything for me, even stand up to a Time Lord. I'm not going to insult him by saying he settled for less. So I live each day striving to be the best I can be, because Ianto deserves nothing less."

The Doctor was grinning. "So what exactly happened?"

"We're pretty certain it was what we think," Jack said.

"Tell me something first, Doctor. That day on the Plass, did you run from just Jack?"

The Doctor shook his head. "No. It was the two of you."

"So we were both immortal at the time?" Jack asked.

"Yes. Definitely. It was so shocking I ran without thinking," the Doctor replied immediately.

Jack and Ianto shared a look. "Yeah, then it probably was," Ianto said to Jack.

"If the CCTV footage is anything to go by, I say so."

Ianto opened his eyes and found himself looking everywhere but at the gloating woman before him. "So, that was definitely it, wasn't it?"

Finally Ianto looked at the woman. "Yes. It was. I suppose I talked again, said everything that I was reliving in my head. So you know the truth. Now what?"

The woman's malicious grin grew, her eyes going cold as she lifted the cup again. Helplessly, Ianto drank from the cup. "Drink it all this time, Ianto Jones. You'll need it all." With a chuckle, she pulled the empty mug from Ianto's mouth. She took both his hands in her. "Close your eyes, Ianto and relax. Time to take another trip to your past." As the young immortal did as he was bid, unable to fight or resist, her eyes glanced over Ianto's shoulder and she started to smile as the large black beetle crawled onto Ianto's back.

"Now," she said. "You're back in the morgue with the others. Jack's dead on the table. Yes?"

"Yes," Ianto said, his voice distant.

"What do you see?"

"He's dead."

"And?"

"Gwen is insisting he'll come back. I want to believe her, but Owen is saying it's time to place his body in  
stasis."

"And then?"

"Gwen... she won't leave. She wants to sit with him, wait until he comes back."

"So why not humour her, Ianto? She'll tire of it, and leave and you can finally close up the drawer."

"I... I can't leave him. Why does she get to sit with him? I'm his lover, not her."

"Because for one, the Hub is in shambles, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"And you can't really rely on Owen and Tosh to clean up."

"Most certainly not Owen. Tosh could, maybe, but... she shouldn't have to do it herself. All of us should be pitching in."

"Then you would most likely lead them into getting more done than Gwen, so let her stay."

"I can't."

"Who's in charge now, Ianto?"

"Gwen thinks she is. I suppose Owen believes he is. When Gwen replaced Suzie, she assumed that included being Jack's second. We let her believe that."

"And the truth?"

"She might be mine. Or maybe Owen. But I have seniority over both of them. I've been with Torchwood longer, I know more about operations than they do."

"Then don't you think you should fulfil Jack's expectations of you? It's the least you can do for your dead lover. Honour his wishes, Ianto Jones. Leave Gwen and take command of your team."

_Tosh, Owen and Ianto all stared at each other, while Gwen gazed down at Jack's still form. She had asked them to leave, that she planned to sit with Jack._

Owen and Tosh decided they had enough standing around and started to leave. Ianto lingered a moment longer, wanting to stay.

"Go, Ianto. Leave them."

_Owen and Tosh waited in the doorway. "Coming Ianto?" Owen called back._

"Um..." He glanced at Gwen, who was holding Jack's cold hand in her. Gwen, who was acting as if Jack was her lover. She had Rhys, Ianto thought. The man that Jack had died for so Gwen could get him back.

"Bloody Jack and his flirting," Ianto spat out. "She fell for him and started to believe that she stood a chance with him. And how he would cave into her demands, never mind that they went against regulations. Jack always talked regulations to us, made me recite what he couldn't remember, and all that bloody woman had to do was give him those great big eyes and there she was, off doing what have you against regulations."

"You had what she couldn't. She'll never have him now. Does it matter now if you leave her with him? What do you think they'll do? Jack's dead!"

Ianto nodded.

_Ianto looked over at Gwen and gave her a tight smile, and then leave Jack's side. He joined Toshiko and Owen at the doorway. When the other two started to make their way back to the central area of the Hub, Ianto paused, glanced back. He watched as Gwen started to fuss with Jack's clothes, smoothing out the thin cotton. Her hands all over Jack's body._

'At least he can't feel it,' Ianto thought, suddenly being filled with anger. At Gwen and at Jack. 'Leave her to it, Jones. There's a Hub to be sorted. And once again, Gwen is going to be bloody useless.'

He turned his back on Gwen and Jack's body, and walked away.

OoOoOoO

Jack jumped up with anger and fear, cursing when he nearly toppled over with dizziness from getting up too quickly. He struck the keys on the keyboard before him. "Everyone to this location! Ianto's in trouble. I lost communication with him." He sent the coordinates of Ianto's location. "Gwen! You're closest."

"I'm on my way, Jack," Gwen's voice came through his comm.

"I'm making my way," Tosh stated. "I see a short cut. I should be there a few minutes after Gwen."

"I'm right behind everyone," Owen said.

"And I'm on my way over," Jack stated, setting the computer system to forward information to the team's PDA. Jack picked up his, then opened his wriststrap and set it so it would also receive any information.

"Jack!" Gwen protested. "Ianto would not only have your head, but ours if anything happened to the baby!"

"Don't you dare leave," Owen demanded. "As medical officer, I'm making that an order. You're off field duty anyway, Jack. Don't be a git."

"Too late. I'm getting in my car and will be on the way in a few moments. Owen, punish me after we rescue Ianto."

"Oh, I am going to throw the book at you, Captain!" Owen snapped. "And when I'm done, I'm going to let Ianto read you the bloody riot act. Turn the fuck back and stay!"

"Hell no!" Jack said.

"Jack," Tosh said, her voice calm and soothing. "It's not like you're likely to lose Ianto forever, right? He's immortal, like you. Except he's not pregnant like you. Don't take it the wrong way, Jack, but he's expendable, and you're not. Those are his exact words to us, by the way."

"Yup. He told us that we are not to allow you to get stupid when he's in danger," Gwen agreed.

"Just see what you can do, dammit!" Jack tuned his comm unit so he could hear the team talk amongst themselves, acting as if he shut down communications.

OoOoOoO


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: I need to remind everyone that this is a CoE fix-it. That said, you will need tissses at the end. The next chapter will be up tomorrow, or Wednesday the latest.

Now on with show.

* * *

**CHAPTER 4**

**June 2011**

Jack pulled into the first space he saw near the building Ianto was in. It was halfway down the road from the building. He did not care that the car was pointing in the wrong direction, or that the front wheel on the driver's side was up on the pavement. He jumped out of his car as soon as he cut the ignition, barely remembering to grab his keys from the ignition. He managed to compensate for the angle the front of the car was in, and in seconds was slamming the door of the blue convertible that he used as his private vehicle. He came to a skidding halt before the building. He did not see his team anywhere. He figured they were around the back. What gave him a bad feeling was the boarded up front of where Jack was certain Ianto was. He felt a chill course along his spine as he tapped the comm unit in his ear.

"Ianto?" he tried again. He was hoping to finally hear his partner's voice, but silence was his only reply. It was the same reply he received as he continually attempted to get in contact with Ianto. He tapped the comm again. "Gwen, Owen, Tosh? Where the hell are you?"

"We're in the back, Jack," came Gwen's reply.

"Get back into your car, you git," Owen's voice came over the comm. "Go back to the Hub. We have a handle on things here."

"Really? You do?" Jack went up to the boarded up doorway and pounded on it, as if he expected someone to open the boards and let him in. He shook his head, glancing behind him and noticing people going about their business as if nothing was amiss. As if there wasn't a man in a long wool coat pounding his fist against the wood of a boarded up doorway.

"We do. It's going to take a little time, but we have a plan," Owen replied.

"Jack," Tosh said. "I know you want to be close to Ianto, but putting the baby in any danger is not going to help him."

"Don't guilt trip me, Tosh!" Jack snapped. He took a step back from the doorway, and then backed up a few more steps. He glanced up, studying the front of the building. It was two storeys, with a flat over the shop on the ground floor. All the windows were boarded up as tightly as the door. The building was in shambles, with black charring coming from one of the windows of the flat. It was a wonder that the building was not slated for demolition. There was no way it was habitable. And yet there had been a shop that Ianto had entered. Jack blinked as he stared at the door. "What's with the door?" he asked the team. "When Ianto entered, it didn't look like this. Are we certain this is the right building?" He backed up a few more feet, almost bumping into a young woman with a baby in a pushchair. He grunted an apology and watched as she hurriedly moved away from him.

"You're the one who sent the coordinates," Owen said. "Not that we're disputing it."

"He's in here?" Jack asked.

"Positive," Gwen stated.

Jack glanced down the street to his left. While it wasn't exactly a busy street, there was activity. The young woman ducked into a coffee shop four buildings down. There was what looked to be an underground record store that sold vinyl as well as digital music , a dress shop and a book shop filled the buildings between where he stood and the coffee shop. There were a few more shops on the other side of the coffee shop. To his right, he smelt fresh baked bread and pastries, along with more shops. All the buildings were in good condition, and not close to ill-repair. His eyes went back to the single eyesore on the street of otherwise tidy and well-kept shops. It didn't make sense to Jack. He focused on what he was able to make out of moulding of the door frame sticking out from behind the boards that were between him and Ianto. Like the rest of the building, the wood was in bad condition, but from the edging, he determined it was the same door he had watched Ianto go through.

"I'm coming around. Don't try to tell me otherwise," he said into the comm. He broke out into a jog, attempting to avoid the nausea he had been feeling since he'd stopped in front of the building. It seemed to increase as he made his way to the corner on his right, since it was closer. Turning the corner, he attempted to deny that he was going to be sick very soon, hoping to keep it down. He barely reached the opening to the alleyway when he dropped to his knees and leaning over, he started to throw up in a patch of brown grass along the back of the corner shop.

OoOoOoO

Tosh noticed Jack turn at the start of the alleyway and opened her mouth to let Gwen and Owen know. Instead, she found herself saying, "Oh, God. Jack's down!"

"What?" Owen snapped. His head whipped around from where he was studying the boarded up backdoor to the shop to see Jack on his knees and huddled over. "Oh, bloody hell. He went and made himself sick. I warned him, but can he listen? Fuck no! Gwen, Tosh, keep on with finding a way into the building while I make sure that it's only pregnancy sickness. I'm not going to let him hear the end of this," Owen continued to rant, not waiting for Gwen and Toshiko to acknowledge him.

Despite their concern for Jack, the two women shared an amused look. Gwen shook her head, while Toshiko simply shrugged. "Owen did warn him," Tosh stated.

"Uh huh. But Owen will be the least of Jack's problems once we get to Ianto," Gwen said.

"Oh, definitely," Toshiko agreed with a little laugh. "Jack said that he watched Ianto enter the shop from the front," she said, back to business, sparing a quick glance to see Owen hovering over a sick Jack Harkness.

"He did, but I can't see how."

"I'm guessing Ianto didn't walk through boarding," Tosh said, pushing buttons on her PDA in frustration.

Gwen giggled despite herself. "Ianto Jones is capable of many things, but I doubt that's one of them."

"So..." Tosh stared up at the building. "What is going on here?"

Owen's sudden voice coming through the comm startled both women. "Jack believes it's a perception filter."

"Of course!" Tosh agreed. "That would make sense. How's Jack?"

"Just routine sickness, spurred on by too much stressing. He's not in a condition to be driving right now, so we're bloody stuck with him for a while. And you, Captain, when we finally get back to the Hub, are getting a full work-up."

"So?" Gwen said, taking a step toward the door. "If we can figure out where the doorknob is, we can open it?" she asked.

"Assuming it isn't locked. But even if it is, I can get around the perception filter and get the door unlocked," Tosh said.

"So, let's do this."

Gwen reached out to the door, her eyes going back to Owen, who was helping a pale looking Jack to his feet. "Oh, Ianto is going to be pissed if Jack got sick on his coat." She heard Toshiko giggle. Her hand touched the door and...

OoOoOoO

Gwen had sat with Jack's body in the morgue for days. Elsewhere in the Hub found Toshiko, Ianto and Owen attempting to move on. At least Ianto was trying, finding himself crying over Jack at unexpected times when he was alone. He threw himself fully into damage repair on the Hub. The harder he worked, the less he thought about Jack.

Toshiko stood next to him while they worked attaching various specimen boxes to cabling. One of the boxes held that damn hand. Jack never talked about it, but over time Ianto had seen enough of Jack when it came to that hand to have a very good idea where it came from.

Toshiko turned and let out a gasp, suddenly running from Ianto's side and across the catwalk. Ianto turned in time to see Jack release Gwen's hand so Toshiko could throw her arms around Jack and hug him. Jack hugged her back tightly.

Ianto stared for a moment, his eyes fixed on Jack. Jack, who was alive and well. He still looked pale, but not as much as the last time Ianto had seen him in the morgue. He still had dark circles under his eyes. As Ianto finally propelled himself across the catwalk, he realized that Gwen and Jack had been holding hands when Toshiko noticed them. It made him once again uncertain where he stood with the Captain, even if he could no longer deny his feelings for Jack.

He came to a stop just before Jack and awkwardly held his hand out toward the Captain, as if to shake hands. Apparently, Jack was having none of that and used the hand to pull Ianto closer and wrapped his arms around the Welshman. Ianto found himself hugging Jack back, glad to feel the immortal's strong arms around him again. And then Jack did something that surprised Ianto; Jack cupped Ianto's face with his hands and kissed him. Ianto found he had no problem returning the kiss, realising he had a good idea where he stood with Jack. They hugged tighter. Ianto did not want to let Jack go, but reluctantly moved away when they noticed Owen's hesitant approach. Jack left Ianto's side to meet the medic halfway on the catwalk and pulled him into an embrace, forgiving Owen. Ianto noticed that while Jack held Owen tightly while the other man cried, no one else seemed to receive a kiss like Ianto had. Of course, he had to check the CCTV on the morgue to come to a definite answer.

After checking out the CCTV footage, Ianto felt secure enough to leave Jack alone with Gwen, while he went out with Toshiko and Owen for some fresh air, and to get coffee and snacks for the team. While they were out, Ianto's mind was on his second chance with Jack and hopefully advancing whatever it was they had. Ianto knew they stood a chance. Jack might have some feelings for Gwen Cooper, but being he was the only to be received by Jack as he was, he was certain Jack wasn't simply settling because he would not get between Gwen and Rhys.

When they returned to the Hub, Ianto's hopes were shattered when they found a distraught Gwen all alone.

Jack was gone.

For three months the team managed to carry on without Jack. There was no one leader; instead, everyone concentrated on their strong points. For Ianto that came down to handling all the administration, including tasks that should have been Jack's. It also entailed dealing with UNIT, Whitehall and everything else that was official. Thankfully, Jack had had Ianto take on some of those tasks already, so he was not an unknown and, as he discovered, was a relief to those who he dealt with. Initially, that is. They probably thought that with Jack out of the way, he would be easier to get one over on, but Ianto proved that he was just as stubborn and fiercely protective as Jack over what was Torchwood's jurisdiction. He just did not blow up during phone calls and meetings as much as Jack had (at least, according to his reputation).

Because of this, it was to his amusement that word went around Whitehall, UNIT and even as far as the Crown that Ianto Jones was currently heading Torchwood. Arguing that misconception would only mean Gwen or Owen having to take on the majority of what Ianto was handling, something they did not want to do. In reality, Owen was in charge of the field, Gwen with public liaising, and Toshiko was happy to continue to study alien technology and work on advances for the team to use. They decided to let people think what they would, while they continued on with their own unusual arrangement. The important thing was that it had worked. They worked more fluently as a team lately, with less arguments and going through a mission bouncing off tasks to the person in charge like a symmetrical dance.

Ianto was also now a full field agent, having gotten his training through practical experience. He hardly ever stayed back at the Hub when someone had to stay. It was usually Toshiko who stayed, all of them deciding her skills on working Mainframe were unmatched. Ianto and Owen usually were always out on the field.

It was because of this development in Ianto's Torchwood career that he found himself the only one with a chance to save a young girl from the hopped up Blowfish they had been chasing. The Blowfish was taunting Ianto, his words meant to cut down his new found confidence. He held his gun pointed at the alien, but still did not dare to shoot. It was not the Blowfish's words that stopped him. He was merely waiting for a chance to take a shot without hitting the woman, who was being tossed back and forth in front of the alien.

Just when Ianto saw his chance and was about to pull the trigger, a bullet came whizzing by, bypassing the hysterical victim and right into the Blowfish's head. Ianto was shocked, to say the least, being he knew he was the only one armed and ready out of the team. His eyes fell to his gun and he turned it enough to assure himself that it did not discharge. Realizing it had come from behind him, he looked back. And saw what Gwen, Owen and Toshiko also saw.

Jack had never explained everything to Ianto, but he'd said enough for the young Welshman to forgive the immortal. Still, Ianto could not forget the CCTV footage the day Jack disappeared, watching his lover run at breakneck speed across the Plass, greatcoat on and a rucksack on his back, then take a flying leap toward what appeared on the footage as nothing before disappearing. Ianto knew better. He thought he caught a slight glimpse a blue. He noticed that the hand in the jar was gone. He knew where Jack was, and actually started to believe the Captain would never return. Why would he? His beliefs were confirmed when, after coming back from a wild goose chase in the Himalayas (damn Gwen Cooper for answering The Phone on Jack's desk that day while Ianto made the team coffee), he went through coverage of what they had missed. It seemed that,for a couple of days Jack was a wanted man by the then-Prime Minister. Ianto also found images of Jack with a dark-skinned young woman and a tall, straggly looking man in a brown coat that was as long as Jack's and had just as much of a dramatic flair. Ianto knew the man was the Doctor, and that the woman was most likely his current travelling Companion. And now he also had Jack. Again.

In the days following Jack's return, Ianto found out some of what the other man had gone through. Jack hardly slept, and when he did, he always woke up screaming from nightmares of things Jack had lived through for a year. A year the rest of the world would never remember.

And yet, Ianto was able to tell exactly when time had reset. He felt as if reality was collapsing on him, and soon after Ianto had himself collapsed, waking up to find the team hovering over him in concern while Owen checked him out. Ianto knew what it was after listening to what Jack was able to talk about.

Their on-again/off-again relationship was on again by the time they took Tommy Brockless out of his cryogenics cell for what Owen called Tommy's yearly thaw out. Unlike the other years while Ianto was there, they did not put the young time-displaced soldier back into deep-freeze. The reason they had him in Torchwood's cryogenics since 1918 had arrived.

Toshiko was crushed. Although she only got to spend time with him one day a year, she'd found herself once again in an ill-fated relationship that ended in more heartbreak for the gentle Japanese woman.

And while he felt badly for his friend, Ianto could not help feeling elated as they wrapped things up. With the others gone for day, Ianto made his way toward Jack's office, carrying a tray with coffee and snacks for him and Jack. Ianto knew the night would end in Jack's bunker beneath his office again. He knew he would spend the night there again.

"Going home wouldn't fix that. Being here, I've seen things I never dreamt I'd see. Loved people I never would have known if I'd just stayed where I was." Jack paused, looking up at Ianto, was sat on the edge of the Captain's desk. Jack's eyes caught Ianto's and held them as he finished speaking, "And I wouldn't change that for the world."

Ianto never expected to trade "I love you" with Jack, never expected a hearts and romance type of relationship. They were still yet to define what they were. And yet, Jack was able to do romance at the most unexpected times. It made Ianto sure in where he stood with his lover.

And that was enough for him.

Just when Ianto thought things were going well with Jack, they found themselves attempting to rescue a wounded space whale. He stood by the kitchenette, nursing yet another beer. Once again, all the others have gone home. He glanced over toward Jack's office, knowing his lover was still brooding. He tried to tell himself that Jack was not jealous of Rhys and that Gwen was with him. Jack was with him. From what he could tell, they had an exclusive arrangement. The problem was that they had never spoke about it, and arrangement still seemed like a better word to use than relationship.

Ianto was pissed that night. First he'd had a gun point blank in his face and the trigger pulled. If there had been one more bullet in the gun, he would not be there right now. He would be dead. And he wondered if Jack would even care. Or would Jack be more concerned over Gwen's refusing to Retcon Rhys? Ianto should have known the answer, but after that day he was not really sure. Thankfully the gun had been out of ammunition, but before Ianto could catch his breath and get his heartbeat under control, Jack was yelling at him to go after Dale. He could understand the job needed to be done, and that Jack was trapped on the other side of the thrashing alien whale with Toshiko, Gwen and Rhys. And yet, he felt that Jack could have spared of moment of concern, taking a moment to check that Ianto was okay. No, not Jack. All he got from Jack was, "Ianto! Go! After them!" Ianto hated to admit that he was a bit more brutal in handling the free-lancing meat suppliers because he was taking out his anger at Jack.

Back at the Hub, Jack gave orders to Gwen to Retcon Rhys, but in the end she refused. The battle of wits between Jack and Gwen made Ianto bristle.

The two were standing chest to chest with hardly any space between them, once again up in each other's faces. Somehow it always came down to this. And Ianto thought as he watched, somehow, Gwen always ended up getting what she wanted, never mind the rules.

"You really think you could go back to your old life before Torchwood?" Jack demanded of Gwen. He paused, staring down into her eyes.

Gwen met his look. "I wouldn't know anything different." She attempted to be indifferent, while still managing to stare at him with big brown eyes.

Jack's voice softened, as did his gaze. "I would."

Gwen's response was more big, lost puppy eyes, and Ianto could not say he was surprised when Jack gave in.

"Give Rhys my love, and I will see you tomorrow." He turned from Gwen. As the Welshwoman made her way out of the Hub, Jack stormed past Ianto, grabbing his water bottle Ianto ended up holding and went into his office.

Where he continued to brood long after Gwen and Rhys, all happy and cuddly, were gone. Meanwhile Ianto's own plans for the night were officially ruined. He was hoping to give Jack a chance to make up for that moment in the warehouse and hopefully get some TLC before having mind-blowing sex.

Ianto no longer felt in the mood to stay behind to give Jack his coffee. Jack would probably not even notice him while in his mood, and not know when he left the Hub to go to his flat.

Ianto could understand how Jack did not want to lose any of his team, and would miss any of them if they left or were killed, but something about the exchange between Jack and Gwen only further infuriated Ianto. It was not so much Jack's giving into Gwen. If Jack had stopped to ask Ianto of his opinion, rules or not, Ianto would have suggested leaving Rhys with his memories. At least then Gwen could go home and discuss her day with her fiancé. There would be no more lies between them. It would be good for them. And then Gwen would not have to go to others within the team for that understanding, such as she had done with Owen (and there were times Ianto feared Jack was next on her list). It was the way it happened. It was that Jack should have been happy for Gwen, especially since he was always telling her not to let her relationship with Rhys drift. Not Retconning Rhys was the best way to assure it. Instead, Jack was brooding, lost in his own thoughts that Ianto was certain he did not want to know. He was afraid if he did, it would break his heart.

With a sigh, he finished his beer and then started on the coffee.

Toshiko and Owen probably had no idea that Ianto and Jack had seen the CCTV footage of the two the night Martha Jones went undercover at the Pharm. It should have made them happy, but Jack had had to turn it off. For the longest time, for some reason unknown to Ianto, Toshiko had been interested in Owen. For the longest time, git that Owen was, he was oblivious to it. He was even oblivious to the fact that Toshiko had finally asked him out on a date. Once the computer tech made her intentions clear, Owen actually agreed to it. It wasn't perfect, but it was a start.

A start was all they needed. At the beginning, it wasn't perfect for him and Jack. In fact, his part of what was merely a sexual arrangement was on Ianto's behalf as a means to divert Jack from figuring out why Ianto spent so much time in the Hub. It gave him an excuse to be there in the middle of the night. And then there was the betrayal, when Jack and the team discovered he had been keeping Lisa, his girlfriend, who was also a half-converted Cyberman in the deep basement of the Torchwood. The game was over, and even if Ianto considered still wanting Jack for a lover, he doubted Jack would be willing. And yet they managed it. They had their ups and downs, ons and offs, but once again, while they sadly watched the footage, all was well between the two men. Ianto even felt assured in where he stood with the Captain.

It would have been interesting to see how things could have evolved between Toshiko and Owen.

Ianto jumped at the sound of the gun going off and in shock, he watched as Owen fell to the ground. The medic had jumped in front of Martha Jones, unarmed and attempted to talk sense into Aaron Copley. Unfortunately, this was one hero that was never meant to be met, as Owen discovered.

Jack managed to make the difficult shot, getting Copley in the head before the other man was able to fire his gun a second time while it was aimed at Martha.

Everyone rushed to Owen's side, disbelief on everyone's faces before being replaced by fear.

"Owen!" Martha cried out, falling to her knees next to the fallen medic. "Can you hear me, Owen?"

Toshiko hovered over Owen on his other side, crying. "You've got to help him!"

Jack was also at Owen's side, holding his hand. He no longer looked like their leader, the brash confident man. He was near tears and distraught. "Owen, stay with me." he pleaded. "Owen. Owen, look at me, look at me. Owen, look right at me. Stay with me, Owen, stay with me. Stay with me, buddy. Come on."

"Owen, speak to me!" Martha demanded.  
As Ianto stood just behind the little group, with Gwen nearby, he watched as the others tried in vain to get Owen to speak. It was over quickly. After some gasping, he suddenly fell still, his eyes still open and staring up toward the sky.

"He's dead," Martha pronounced.  
"Owen," Jack whispered, clearly upset.

It was going to be a long night for them all, having lost a friend and colleague, but Ianto knew it was going to be the worst for Jack. Jack had lost a member of the team he had hand-picked that night.

It didn't end there. 'After all, this is bloody Torchwood,' Ianto thought as he watched Jack pour them both drinks. Jack had the brilliant brainstorm to locate the other resurrection glove and bring Owen back to life. He claimed he only intended to get codes and for everyone to have a chance to say goodbye. Ianto could believe the goodbye part, but codes? Really? Ianto already had those for a long time now.

Instead of bringing Owen back for a few minutes, the glove's connection with Jack and the Vortex within him managed to keep Owen... undead, was the better term. A zombie. He could not sleep, drink, or shag, as Owen had constantly moaned.

For good or bad, the team had Owen back, but he would never be the same, as much as they tried to pretend otherwise.

And Owen felt it was useless to attempt any start of a relationship with Toshiko. What was the use?

He heard Jack's yell of "Gwen! I need some help down here!" He stared across the corridor to Gwen. From the look on her face, she caught the panic in Jack's voice. It sounded bad. Gwen was off and running. Ianto elected to go at a slower pace, keeping his eyes on John Hart.

He came to the top of the stairs to the autopsy bay and to his horror, he found Jack cradling Toshiko. There was blood, so much blood. Ianto felt ill, knowing it was his friend's. He ran down the clean stairs as Gwen frantically prepared a syringe with one of Owen's special drugs that might save Toshiko's life. He saw the pain and agony on Jack's face, knew his own face mirrored his lover's. He completely forgot about Hart, and glanced up to notice the Time Agent was leaning on the rail and looking down, for once a look of sincere remorse on his face. Ianto's eyes drifted down and ended up fixing on the monitor.

"The nuclear plant at Turnmill!" Ianto exclaimed in horror. "Owen's there!"

"Sealed in," Toshiko gasped. "Rerouted the blast." She paused, wheezing, as she looked at Jack. "I couldn't save him."

Ianto covered his mouth with his hand, not wanting to believe what he just heard. Jack directed his anguished gaze at Ianto. Ianto took a deep breath and looked down at the woman still in Jack's arms.

Gwen dropped down beside Jack and injected the shot, her eyes on the injured woman's face. "Tosh? There you go, darling. Talk to me now. C'mon. Hey, Tosh."

Toshiko did not sound like she was listening, her gaze fixed on Jack's face. Jack held one of her hands, squeezing it, tears glistening in his eyes.

Ianto silently will his friend to be okay. They had already lost Owen. Again. Losing Tosh would be too much. Way too much.

Jack gave Tosh a smile, attempting to be brave, when Ianto could see he was falling apart.

'Live, Tosh,' Ianto thought. 'Please.'

Toshiko smiled back at Jack before her gaze turned distant and she went lax. Her face muscles went lax and her head tilted slightly.

'Oh God, no. Not Tosh too,' Ianto thought, once again faced with loosing someone he cared for. 'Why Tosh too? It's not fair.'

He leaned heavily on a nearby cart, and if he thought about it, he would have been amazed that he managed that. His legs felt like they wanted to give in and his tears started to flow freely. Before him, Jack still held Toshiko's still form, crying openly, while Gwen sobbed beside him.

Ianto had to wonder if they would ever recover from this.

They managed to move on. They were Torchwood, after all. A year had gone by. In that year, Jack had started to spend more nights in Ianto's flat than in the Hub. Jack would suffer anxiety being in his cubby under his office after spending centuries buried. In the first few months, even spending too much time in the Hub would get Jack anxious. Spending so much time together made them closer, and yet while they talked about everything, the one thing they did not talk about were their true feelings. Jack talked about himself, and Ianto started to believe he knew enough about Jack. Knowing Jack's true age, he knew he could not know everything, but it felt to Ianto while they would lay arm in arm in bed after making love, Jack would share the important things with him.

While certain things were not said to each other, Ianto was pretty certain Jack knew how he felt about his immortal lover, and knew how Jack felt. He realized it when they started to use "making love" at times.

They had gone to Switzerland to help Martha Jones find a friend. The Earth was moved across the universe and just a fraction out of time. Jack had left to find and help the Doctor. Unlike the last time Jack ran off with the Doctor, Ianto put his coat on and Jack left with a promise of coming back. Ianto and Gwen found themselves assisting the Doctor by allowing him to use the Rift as a towline for the TARDIS to bring the Earth back to its rightful place in the universe. Jack returned shortly after. The Rift never stopped for more than a week, and that much was not often, which kept them busy. There were countless times that Ianto thought it was over for him. The way Jack would cling to him for a while after each time made Ianto worry for Jack when his time would really come. And in Torchwood, for mere mortals, it was bound to be sooner than later.

Not that Ianto had no cause to worry about losing Jack first. There were things worse than death, and Ianto had already been aware of them in his time knowing Jack. There was also the chance that one day Jack will just up and leave.

Ianto found himself in a hospital room, eyes on a comatose Jack. His usually animate lover, even when sleeping, was so still. It reminded Ianto of the time after Abaddon, the first time Ianto thought Jack's luck had run out and he was not coming back. Jack was not dead this time, but Ianto feared that he would never wake up. If only Jack had not been so bloody daft and answered the phone when he should have known better.

Gwen and Rhys were out in the field attempting to track down why the old phones would ring and put people in comas, while an ex of Jack's from the 70's that Ianto called worked in the hospital labs hoping to find a way to wake Jack. Ianto knew he should have been out with Gwen and Rhys, but he could not bring himself to leave Jack's side. So there he sat, holding Jack's still hand.

Unable to stand the silence anymore, Ianto started to talk.

"They say you're supposed to talk to people when they're in a coma. Don't they?" Ianto paused, his gaze going to the hand in his. He squeezed it and took a breath.

With his attention on their hands, he continued, "I have absolutely no idea whether you can hear me, Jack. I never heard of anyone coming out of a coma and carrying on the conversation. So I suspect it's something the doctors tell us to do, to make us feel better, rather than help you. We don't feel quite so useless and helpless. We get the feeling that there's still some sense of purpose in our lives. We're not just waiting. Waiting for the science to work. Or the miracle to happen. Or the nightmare to end."

He studied Jack's face, taking another pause. "I'm not much of a talker, Jack, you know that. But I'll talk to you now, on the off-chance that it helps. Just promise me, if you're hearing this, that when you come round and you're going to, Jack; you're going to come out of this, just promise me that you'll never bring up anything I say to you now. How's that? We got a deal?"

He paused again as if waiting for Jack to reply. He gave his still lover a small smile as if Jack had agreed. There were many silent agreements between them in the time since Jack's returned from the first time he went away with the Doctor.

"This must be the longest that I've ever looked at you and not seen you smile. I've watched you in your sleep; did you know that? So many times. Just woken up beside you in the middle of the night and watched you. Watched your eyes moving behind your eyelids as you dreamed. And tried to imagine what a man like you could possibly dream about. The things you've seen; the lives you've lived; the people you've loved. I wondered if you were dreaming about me, I hoped you were dreaming about me."

Ianto stopped again, taking a deep breath and keeping the tears from falling from his eyes. He entwined their fingers, while his other hand covered Jack's hand. "But let's be honest, Jack. I'm… nothing more than a blip in time for you, Jack. Everyday, I grow a little older. But you're immortal. You've already lived a thousand lifetimes. How could you watch me grow old and die? How can I watch you live and never age a day? "

He shook his head. "I suppose we both know that will never be a problem. Not in this job. No one in Torchwood ever lives to draw their pension do they? Even by some miracle I survive to see my hair turned grey, or God forbid fall out, I don't kid myself that you'd still be around to see it." He had to stop again, shaking his head sadly. "One day, you'll go again, just like you did before." He bit his lip and his voice caught as he spoke. "And this time you won't be back." His voice was heavy his heartbreak at the thought. It was harder to keep the tears at back. "Maybe that's what you're dreaming about those nights, when I watch you sleeping. Maybe that's why, even while you sleep, I see you smile."

He stopped again, a tear silently falling. Without releasing Jack's hand, he managed to wipe his face with his arm. He leaned closer and rubbed his cheek against their clasped hands. "But you haven't gone yet, Jack. I know that. I know you're coming back to me." He moved his head so he could lightly kiss Jack's lips.

In the end, it was Ianto, using the information Gwen and Rhys found, to work out the way to bring Jack out of the coma.

Once Jack received the clear bill of health from Stella and she left the two men alone, Ianto got a surprise that made his heart swell. Jack slipped his arms around Ianto's waist and pulled him close. Jack went in for a kiss, but stopped with his mouth a few inches from Ianto's. "You'll never be just a blip in time, Ianto Jones," Jack said, his tone filled with warmth and love. He moved his mouth closer until their lips were nearly missing. "Not for me." His lips finally touched Ianto's and they kissed, saying in their kiss what they never said in words.

Ianto wondered if they ever would speak those words.

Life with Jack could sometimes be as turbulent as working for Torchwood, but Ianto accepted both as part of his life and could not see himself without either in his life. Somehow, as a result of the speech Jack would never admit more to hearing other than that small acknowledgement shortly after coming out of the coma, they found themselves taking another step further in their still yet-unnamed relationship. Most days it did not matter to Jack as long as they were together and even without words spoken, Ianto knew Jack loved him. Just as he knew without saying it, Jack knew Ianto loved him. Somehow, since Jack's return from travelling with the Doctor, more of Jack's personal belongings ended up in Ianto's flat than in the Hub. The day had come when they finally had to admit they were living together. They were a couple. Jack seemed to be agreeable to it, but Ianto could not quite get over the fact that they had actually taken a step in defining what they had.

Except that in order to wrap his head about the concept, Ianto kept saying it aloud with Jack around. That apparently was annoying to Jack, and Ianto suddenly found himself confused. One moment Jack was saying they were a couple, and the next he was saying he hated the word. As Jack stormed off to his office, Ianto remained in place, telling himself that it did not change what they were, and how they felt about the other. Jack just did not like to complicate his life with labels. For the most part, Ianto had been able to live without them. He was in love with a man. That had never happened before Jack and probably never would again, assuming there would ever be a time in Ianto's life without Jack in it. Ianto did not want to think about it, but Jack's mini-tirade already had him feeling hurt and insecure, and at the moment he thought it would be possible that he would find himself alone in the future. He feared that Jack could leave him when he got older, deciding on something younger, prettier.

For all Ianto's thoughts, he managed to forget that he most likely would die before that chance would come. If the thought did cross his mind, it would never occur to him that he could die within a few days. Later that evening, as he ran from the ruins of the destroyed Hub, hoping to escape being captured, it was the beginning of the end of Ianto Jones.

Inside Thames House, Ianto faced off the 456 alone, while Jack ran off in a panic, doing what Ianto had no idea what the Captain had hoped to do at that point. The building was in lock down and a poisonous gas released, slating everyone inside to die. While Ianto had been certain when his time finally came it would be Torchwood-related, facing down aliens, but he had not imagined it this way. He knew he was a goner, and yet he managed to keep a level head as he lifted his gun to the large box filled with noxious gases and the alien they called the 456.

"If there's a virus, then there must be an anti-virus. Release it now, or I'll blow a hole in that tank, and we'll all die together," Ianto calmly stated. He heard Jack run back in, stopping to stand next to him.

"You made your point, now stop this and we can talk," Jack pleaded. Ianto could say he had never seen Jack like this when facing alien threats. The Captain was desperate, working his way up to a full panic. His eyes glowed a brighter blue, indicating he was holding back tears.

"You are dying, even now," came the alien's response.

Still having to try, Jack raised his gun to join Ianto's and together they fired at the containment box, to no avail.

Ianto knew he would never get out alive.

Jack turned to Ianto, grabbing him by his shoulders. "We've got to get you out of here. I can survive anything, but you can't!" Yes, Jack was definitely in panic mode.

Ianto still managed to remain calm. This was one time he would not follow Jack, because to follow him in blind panic would not help any of them. It would not stop Ianto from dying. "Too late. I've breathed the air," he simply stated.

Jack was not accepting that as an answer. "There's got to be something. There's got to be an antidote!"

Ianto felt himself sagging, knowing it would be over soon. At least it would not be a long and painful death.

"You said you would fight," the 456 intoned.

Jack released his grip on Ianto to turn in the direction of the box the alien was contained in. "Then I take it back, alright?" he shouted at the 456. "I take it all back... but not him!" Jack was closer to tears.

And Ianto suddenly realized that more than the three words they never spoke, Jack's words now showed the true extent of his feelings for Ianto, of his love. Jack was willing to give up millions of children to save him. If he'd had a choice, Ianto could have never allow that to happen, but he knew the aliens would not back down now. However, Ianto did feel truly loved. It was a shame that he was dying. He would have loved to have more time to bask in Jack's love.

Ianto fell to his knees. Jack fell down next to him, holding him. Tears were starting to leak from Jack's eyes. "No! No no no no no no. NO!" Jack raged on in denial, as if unaware that he was also dying. Unlike Ianto however, Jack would wake up from the death.

Ianto ended up laying on the floor, cradled in Jack's arms. Jack was crying openly now. "It's all my fault," he managed to say.

"No it's not," Ianto denied. He did not want Jack to feel guilty. He could not allow Jack to have any doubts about his feelings. It was not going to be easy for Jack, and Ianto knew that, but he could attempt to make Jack having to live on without him as easy as he could. Damn for having so little time, as he felt his life slipping from him. He was weaker now and hurting. It was harder to breathe, and each ragged breath he took felt like his last one. The next breath could be his last, so he had to get his point across. And he was not going to die with any regrets (bloody beans!), so he knew exactly what he needed to do.

"Don't speak, save your breath," Jack said softly.

Ianto realised that he was now very scared. He did not want to leave Jack. He wanted more time with Jack. He glanced up at Jack's tear-streaked face. "I love you," he gasped.

Jack shook his head in denial. "Don't," Jack blurted out.

Ianto should have been insulted, but he knew Jack better than Jack knew himself at times. And it was something that Ianto would have done exactly the same if their positions had been reversed. He did not think too much on it, just felt sad for Jack, faced with the truth that this was the end. His eyes fell closed, unable to fight the exhaustion overtaking him. It was getting harder, feeling as if he finally took his last breath in the next second, it would be a relief.

But Jack started to shake him, desperately wanting to keep Ianto with him just a little longer. "Ianto. Ianto? Ianto, stay with me. Ianto, stay with me please—stay with me, stay with me, please!" Jack begged, crying.

Jack did not have to say those words back. Everything Jack had done in the last few minutes said enough for Ianto to still feel loved. At least instead of dying alone somewhere, which is the way Ianto had always figured it would be, he was in the arms of his lover – his partner. He managed to pry his eyes open a little and looked up at Jack's face. Jack was falling apart and it had nothing to do with his own impending death.

"Hey," Ianto started, his voice breaking. "It was..." he had to stop, gasp for the next breath, "good. Yeah?"

Jack nodded, still crying, attempting a loving smile for him. "Yeah," Jack agreed.

He was still there. So he decided to put to voice his one fear. He had only mentioned it while Jack was in the coma. Jack most likely knew already, but he had to say it while he still had the time. "Don't forget me." His voice broke more, getting weaker.

This time Jack's smile was almost the real thing, despite the tears still freely falling. Jack still cradled Ianto in his arms. "Never could," he replied, his voice soft, filled with emotion.

"A thousand years' time," he had to draw in another ragged breath. It was harder to talk, but he pushed on. He was scared now. "...you won't remember me."

"Yes, I will," Jack insisted. "I promise I will."

As if that was all Ianto finally needed to hear, he could draw only one more ragged, gasping breath in and then he started to feel himself fade away.

Somewhere in the distant, he could still hear Jack's voice, fading as Jack pleaded desperately, still crying. "Ianto. Ianto? Don't go. Don't leave me, please. Please, don't..."

Nothing else of the world existed to him, except for Jack's rapidly fading pleas. He could not feel it, but he knew Jack had him in a tight embrace as he begged Ianto not to leave him. As much as Ianto wished he could give Jack that, he could not.

Jack finally faded. There was nothing, except for darkness.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

Amy Pond and her husband, Rory Williams entered the TARDIS' main control room hand in hand. They found the Doctor hunched over the main console, his brows knitted together and mumbling to himself.

"Mornin'" Amy attempted to call out but only ended up yawning.

Rory grinned, his eyes sparkling. He leaned closer to his wife and whispered, "Should I stop keeping you up late?"

Amy glared at him, "Just try, Mister. I have my ways."

Rory chuckled. "Yeah, you do."

They shared a grin. The scramble of feet, along with more of the Doctor's muttering caused them to focus on the manic Time Lord at the main console. The Doctor was currently at another section of the circular console, flipping switches and turning dials. His mumbling increasing, he ran to another section, ignoring his two Companions.

Amy and Rory waited patiently. At least Rory attempted to appear patient.

The Doctor straightened up and smacked himself on the forehead. "What am I, a moron?" He lifted his finger as Rory went to open his mouth. "No," he warned. "Don't answer that. Do not speak. Not a word. Not even a sound. Nothing." He still did not look over at them.

Amy rolled her eyes and the two humans continued to watch as the Doctor moved from the console and started to pace.

He grabbed a turf of his dark thick hair, pulling on it. "What was I thinking? Oh Jack, is that what I thought would help you?" he sighed sadly. "I was quite a bit rude in my last regeneration."

Amy started to open her mouth, the fiery haired Scottish woman's eye sparkling with amusement.

The Doctor held up a hand. "Nah! Don't say it! Shh! Shut up! I'm thinking." His hair now stood up in more wild angles than usual making him look like the proverbial mad scientist.

Amy and Rory shared an amused look. It was very possible some things did not change for the Doctor.

"And what was that about Martha with Mickey?" the Doctor rambled on, more to himself than to the other two. "No. Wrong. That was wrong too." He finally looked up at Amy and Rory. He took long strides in their direction, still with a manic look in his eyes. "Martha Jones was with Tom. Tom Milligan. They were engaged and... they did get married. I remember them getting married. Right?" He finally looked at them.

Sometimes with the Doctor, it was better to nod in agreement first and then ask questions later. The Doctor turned, ignoring them, as Rory shrugged and Amy nodded.

"Martha should never have ended up with Mickey the idiot!" He threw his hands up in the air and started to pace again. "Not married, at least." He turned and made a path which was directly in front of the married couple. "They worked together," he insisted. He stopped before Rory and leaned close. "She left UNIT and went to work for that knucklehead."

Rory opened his mouth, unsure of what he was going to say, then closed it quickly when the Doctor moved to stand before Amy. "They helped Torchwood when needed. They even helped Sarah Jane." Amy simply stared at him. "Eventually, they ended up at the new Torchwood London. Mickey was the Director." He shook his head. "What was Jack thinking to make that decision?" He stopped moving and gave them a small smile. "Well, alright. It worked out for Jack. Everything seems to work out in the end for Captain Jack." The Doctor frowned suddenly and grabbed a tuff of his hair. "Except for... No!" He went back to his pacing and ranting. "There is no Torchwood London. And do you know why?"

Rory started to nod, caught Amy rolling her eyes and ended up shaking it instead.

"No Doctor, we don't," Amy said. "Do you think we can get an answer sometime today?"

"Today? Why we're on the TARDIS. 'Today' is relative." The Doctor fluttered his hand in dismissal of the last thought.

"Then soon?" Rory asked hopefully. He met Amy's eyes and winked at her, seemingly satisfied.

"Of course, soon!" the Doctor replied. "There is no Torchwood London any more because Jack left the Earth. That's why. There isn't a Torchwood Cardiff either. The Hub was destroyed in an explosion and then Ianto died." He smacked his forehead. "Wrong! It's all wrong!" He started to walk in an erratic circle. "There's no Torchwood any more. Even the branch in Scotland was handed over to UNIT when the Director – strange little man, by the way – died. Too soon. Archie lived longer than that! But he died too soon. Too much pressure on him, dealing with Torchwood Three's destruction, and no one to pick up the pieces in Cardiff. Oh, Gwen tried but juggling a newborn and husband with rebuilding Torchwood. She nearly killed herself before Rhys convinced them to leave Cardiff and dump the responsibility on Archie. He couldn't handle it, poor man. All because Ianto Jones died too soon. It's all gone now."

"Doctor, how do you know all this?" Amy dared to ask, finally moving from where she was stood with Rory and went over to the main console.

"I just know. I remember. I'm a time traveller, remember?" He gave Amy a meaningful look. His eyes shifted slightly toward Rory before focusing back on Rory. "I saw Ianto in the future. I would stop in on him and Jack at times, sometimes ran into them on some other world. Torchwood was to spread out through the universe, helping the human race as you people leave the Earth.

"Oh no. No, no, no! What was I thinking? I accepted everything as if it was right! And Jack... what did I do for Jack? Loyal Jack. My friend. Who lost not just a lover, but The One. The one who was supposed to be with him for eternity!"

Amy stared at him. Rory joined them, saying what Amy did not dare. "What did you do for this Jack person?"

"I tossed him a man." He held up a hand when Amy snorted. "Shut up! Don't say anything! I treated Jack like the conman he was when I first met him. Something made me believe all was right, and oh, I thought I was so clever. I stopped Martha from getting killed by a Sontaran, I went back to stop Luke from being killed by a car. And instead of helping to keep Ianto alive, I simply threw a man at Jack." He smacked his forehead several times. "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Shut up! Don't you dare say anything. I'm ranting here."

Amy bit her lip. She wondered about all the names the Doctor threw out at him. She would have been at least a little shocked about the eternity comment, but she gazed at Rory. It never happened, and yet it had because they remembered. Her Rory had waited almost 2000 years for her. Anything was possible.

"So what you're saying is that time was changed again?" Amy asked.

The Doctor stopped and spun to face her. "Yes. That's what I'm saying."

"And it's all wrong?" Rory added.

"Of course it is."

"And it all points to this Ianto Jones, yeah?" Amy asked.

"Yes! Yes, it does. It's all down to Ianto. He died. But he shouldn't have died." The Doctor leaned toward them again. "He should not have been able to die. Well, he could die, but he should have come back. Like Jack. Always coming back. Immortal. Both of them. But it's just Jack now. And now Jack's lost." He smacked his forehead again. "And I didn't help."

"What brought this on anyway, Doctor?" Rory asked. "Why suddenly did you remember all this?"

"Well," the Doctor said, drawing out the word in a ploy to buy for time. "That might be because I decided it would be a good idea to recharge the TARDIS, and decided to drop in on friends. See if the baby has been born yet." He ran a hand through the back of his head, looking rueful. "There's nothing here. No Rift to recharge. No silver water tower. Nothing. The Plass is all different. Wrong. And then it came to me. Everything that I knew about this area is no more."

"Where are we Doctor?" Amy asked, looking concerned.

"Cardiff," the Doctor replied. "August 2011." For a moment there was a flash of loss and pain on his face. "There's no baby now."

Amy cleared her throat. "Doctor? You said before time can be rewritten."

Rory stared at Amy for a moment before giving his attention to the Doctor, nodding his head. "If you say Ianto was immortal, but he died, then..."

"Something prevented him from becoming immortal! Right! What was it they said?" He smacked his forehead. "Oh! That's right. It was just before I saw them on the Plass the first time. I saw the two of them. Immortal. I itched. It was like fingernails raking over a blackboard. I couldn't stand being near one of them, but there were two. And I ran. Later when I saw them again... Oh! That's it! The year that never was! That should never have been!"

Amy and Rory traded looks. "Well, if it never was," Rory started.

"Shut up! It happened. I mean for me now, but it didn't happen before." The Doctor rounded on Amy and Rory, walking around them, beady eagle eyes studying them. "I can't take the chance. It'll be too close to running into my past self. So... it'll be up to you two. We'll go back, I drop you off and... what? What did it? What could have been different to prevent Ianto from becoming immortal? OH! Right! I remember what they told me. It'll have to be up to you." He grinned at the newlyweds and clapped his hands. "Next stop, Cardiff 2007!" He ran to the main console, flipping switches, rotating dials, he paused before the old style typewriter and typed a few keys before running to the other side and moving levers. He finally looked up at them. "Hang on, because here we go!"

OoOoOoO

Amy and Rory walked hand in hand across the Plass. It was eerily empty. Most citizens of Cardiff were locked away in their homes, or in shelters for those who had lost their homes in whatever it was that destroyed areas of the city.

The Doctor had landed them on E. Bute Street, a few unobstructed blocks from the Plass. Before setting the TARDIS for Cardiff, he pulled up Abbadon's path of destruction so he could set them in a location that was not touched by the behemoth before Jack killed it. The TARDIS arrived an hour after Abbadon's appearance. Of course, the Doctor simply said to Amy and Rory that they had arrived too late to prevent the creature from attacking. The death toll and destruction was too high for Amy and Rory to simply accept that some things cannot be changed. They spent time over that, wondering why they couldn't go back far enough to stop the beast's attacks. The Doctor explained that was fixed point and needed to happen. It was a step toward Cardiff's major secret eventually coming out in the open. Abbadon had to be defeated and that was the chance. He went onto explain how Jack had to die as he had in order for Ianto to become immortal.

Amy stared at the Doctor in horror.

"Oh, c'mon. You know that if I could help, I would. But there are some things I can't," the Doctor said, sounding agitated. "And the number of beings that will be saved because of Jack and Ianto far outnumber the death toll here. It sounds cruel to you, but there it is. Sometimes you have to allow an evil to happen for the greater good of many." The pained look returned to his face. "But not one little boy," he added low, staring down at the console.

Rory placed an arm around Amy and pulled her close. She rested her head on his shoulder. Rory cleared his throat. "So, Doctor, you have some things to tell us before we go out there to find Ianto Jones?"

The Doctor's head came up. He looked surprised and then as usual, the look quickly faded to be replaced by a big happy grin. "Of course we do. Sit down. Much to tell, some of it will seem confusing, some incredible, but I swear to you, it's all true. And you, Pond and Williams, will go and do a deed that will save worlds from extinction many many years in the future". He clapped his hands and bounced over to the seat and patted the space next to him. "Come on now. Story time. You need to know everything I can remember Jack and Ianto telling me of this time. You'll need the information to convince Ianto in making the right choice. This is important now."

When Amy and Rory sat down the Doctor began to talk. With questioning from his Companions, he managed to remember everything. He had taken the time to explain about Jack Harkness and how he had given his life so the Doctor had a chance to save the Earth from the Daleks and how Rose Tyler had brought Jack back to life and made him immortal. He then went onto how Jack had finally found someone who ended up not only becoming the love of his life, but his soulmate. How they were to spend eternity together because Ianto Jones had become immortal.

The window for when Ianto would be able to be immortal was a small one so it did not take a lot of guessing on the Doctor's part. The only thing he was able to think was that Ianto did not sit with Jack while the Captain was still dead after Abaddon, did not talk to him and most certainly did not kiss him. That was what caused Ianto's immortality. In the last couple of days, they had opened the Rift Manipulator in Torchwood enough to bring Jack and Toshiko home. The next day the Rift was opened completely by the team. What made Ianto unique from the rest of the team being exposed to the Rift and the Vortex within the Rift, was Jack had once brought Ianto back to life using the Vortex energy within him and transferred through a kiss. There was also the fact that Ianto had been in the Torchwood Tower in London when the Void was opened. The void was part of the vortex too. Only twenty-seven survived the day, but out of the survivors, Ianto Jones was the only one who had later been exposed to other forms of the Vortex. After recently being exposed to so much raw Rift energy in such a short time, he was completely saturated with it, waiting for a conduit that would bring it to life, so to say, within him and make him as immortal as Jack.

The Doctor sent them on their way, Amy and Rory hoping the Doctor would keep good on his word of staying inside the TARDIS and not get into any trouble until they returned.

They settled at a table at a café at Mermaid's Quay. In the distance they heard the last of the emergency vehicles in the areas affected. There were a few people at the café and judging from their accents, they were tourists who were anxious to leave Cardiff as soon as they could, despite having several days left to their holidays. Amy and Rory were most amused by the family from London, who took it all in stride. Like the others, their route to the hotels were blocked by emergency vehicles and they were hoping within a few hours they could get back to the hotel. If not, they planned to make a night of it on the Quay, inviting the other misplaced tourists to join them.

A poke by Rory's elbow brought Amy's attention from the tourists bonding. She glared at him, only to notice her husband pointing. "Isn't that him?" Rory asked.

Amy looked over to where Rory pointed. Coming from the steps leading down to the boardwalk by the Tourist Information Booth was Ianto Jones. He was wearing a dark blue pinstripe suit, light blue shirt and dark blue tie. "That's him." She stood up and started to cross toward the Welshman. She noticed how he seemed to stride with a purpose but there was a slight slump to his shoulders.

Amy had a good idea why, and had to wonder if Gwen had already chased everyone away. "Ianto," she called out, rushing to catch up with her. She went to the Welshman's side as Rory came up behind them.

Ianto stopped and turned to look at her. "I'm sorry. Do we know each other?" He seemed polite enough, but she knew suspicion when it was in front of her. He probably thought she was a reporter or someone else trying to get more information about Torchwood. It would still be another two years before Torchwood started to not be so secret.

"You don't know me," she said brightly. "But I know you."

Ianto's brows furrowed together and he gave her a cool stare. "I'm sorry, but I should be going."

"We have a common friend," Rory called out as Ianto started to walk away.

Amy gave him a look and waved her hands at him, as if to tell him to shut up. Ianto had turned again and caught her. His eyebrows were now raised as he watched her. "Really? May I ask who this common friend is?" he asked Rory, pointedly ignoring Amy.

"Well, it's not so much a friend of yours. Not yet anyway," Rory started.

Amy laughed nervously. "Let's just say that he was at Canary Wharf," she blurted out.

"A survivor?" Ianto asked. "What's his name, because I know the names of all the survivors," Ianto said, caution in his tone. It was obvious he was baiting them, not expecting a satisfactory response.

Amy sighed and deciding to take a more assertive action, slipped her hand through his arm, leading him to walk toward the café where they were sitting. "It's complicated, Ianto. I also know Gwen Cooper," she quickly lied, realizing she needed to get to the point before they end up arguing semantics about the Doctor being a friend of Ianto's.

Ianto started to frown as he stared at the red-headed young woman who he realised had him by his arm and was guiding him toward an outside table at the café ahead of them. He came to a sudden stop, which pulled Amy back as Rory walked into him.

"How do you know Gwen Cooper?" Ianto asked. He glanced from the woman still holding onto his arm back to the young man who was muttering in annoyance. He had noticed the wedding band on the woman's left hand and as he studied the man behind him, he saw that he too had a band on his left hand. Ianto assumed they were married. "And who exactly are you, Mrs...?"

"Pond," replied Amy instantly at the same time that Rory said, "Williams."

The woman shook her head, causing her red hair to bounce. "Amy Pond. I go by my last name," he explained. "And this is my husband, Rory Williams." She smiled up at Ianto. "We're newlyweds. Haven't been married very long."

"Best wishes then," Ianto said. His grey-blue eyes went to Rory. "I suppose you know Gwen through Rhys, yeah?"

"Pardon?" Rory asked.

Ianto started to frown again. "Gwen's boyfriend, Rhys. Rhys Williams. Ah," he said seeing the apologetic look on Rory's face. "I guess you're not a relation then."

"No. Sorry," Rory said. "I can understand why you would believe so."

Ianto found himself being lead off again. "I am hoping this isn't an abduction then."

"No. No abduction," Amy assured him, patting his arm. "We're just going to have a nice little chat and then you can be off on your way." She stopped before a table that had two half drunk tea cups and a small plate with the remains of what had once been a pastry. She indicated that Ianto take a seat.

Ianto sat in one of the places that did not have a tea cup before it, while Rory sat back in his chair, and Amy sat in the other previously unoccupied seat, placing herself next to Ianto.

"This is going to all sound very strange but believe me, it's the truth," Amy started.

Ianto gave her a look that said it took much for him to think something strange, but otherwise remained silent. He continued to stare at her.

She grasped him by his arm again. "I know about Torchwood," she said low.

"Because of your friend at Canary Wharf?" Ianto asked.

Amy nodded. "For starters, yes. I know what you do, and it's a great thing." She smiled at him and patted his arm. "It reminds me of my friend and all he does. But that's not why we're here," she quickly added when Rory appeared to cough.

Ianto's eyebrow was up again. "Oh really? Then tell me, Amy Pond, why are you here?"

"I know what happened to Jack," she said.

"With that big monster thing," Rory added. Amy threw him a look.

Ianto nodded, his look turning mournful. He let out a sigh. "He's dead," he said. Only two words, but so much profound despair in them.

Amy shook her head. "Jack can't die. Well, he could, but he'll always come back."

Ianto's look turned cold and suddenly he became very tense. "Wait a minute. I can understand you knowing Jack gave his life to destroy Abbadon, but how do you know about his...?"

"Like I said, we have a friend. He knows a lot. About Jack and about Torchwood."

Suddenly she felt Ianto tense up more. The Welshman placed his hands on the table surface and looked ready to bolt at any second. "Is he here?" Ianto asked, sounding angry. He turned blazing blue eyes on her, meeting Amy's. "Tell me, is the Doctor here?"

Amy sighed and looked in resignation over to Rory. She started to open her mouth, but it was her husband who replied. "He's here, but he's not the right Doctor. Not yet."

Ianto studied Rory and seemed to understand what the younger man meant. He nodded, his anger fading. He suddenly seemed more weary and resigned. "Not that it would have made a difference now," he said bitterly. "All those years Jack waited and now he's dead."

"Do you really believe that, Ianto?" Amy asked, softly stroking the material of his suit jacket and gazing up at him with wide earnest eyes.

"You don't?" Ianto asked.

Amy shook her head. "No. I'm..." She paused to consider her words. "I'm here to tell you that you shouldn't give up hope."

"He told you to say that?" Ianto asked.

Rory nodded. "Yes. The Doctor is very fond of you."

Ianto looked amazed. "Me? The Doctor?" he snorted. "But, the Doctor is Jack's um, friend."

"That's now. The Doctor spoke of times in the future," Rory supplied helpfully. "Um, your future, not his."

Ianto gave Rory an incredulous stare. He started to open his mouth to speak, but Amy cut him off.

"Ianto," she said, bringing Ianto's attention back to her. "Jack can never die. The Doctor said so. Sometimes it just takes him a little longer." She placed her hand on the arm resting on the table. "The way he described it is that sometimes it's harder to escape the darkness. He needs someone to help him do that." Her grip on Ianto's arm tightened. "And that someone should be you, Ianto Jones. No one else. Especially Gwen Cooper."

Rory gazed at Amy before giving Ianto his attention. "I understand Gwen has a boyfriend that she should be home with."

Ianto's lips almost curled into a snarl. Almost before his features smoothed out again. "Everything she insisted on to get Rhys back," he said, pounding a fist on the table. "And yet she sits with Jack. She sent us away, insisting that she wanted to sit with him." Ianto glanced down at the table, a profound sadness overcoming him and it showed on his face. "I couldn't even get to say goodbye to Jack in private."

"Stop that, Ianto!" Amy snapped. "Jack is not dead. Well, not permanently. But it should not be her that he wakes up to. In fact, I know on good word that he will come back faster with the right person." She lifted his hand, forcing him to look at her. "A little talking, a caress here or there." Her grin grew. "Maybe even a kiss."

Ianto laughed nervously. "You make it sound like a fairy tale."

Amy flushed, her smile turning warm as she looked over to Rory. "Yeah. I know. I also know that fairy tales can come true." With her free hand, she reached out to Rory, who took her hand and kissed it. She looked back to Ianto. "And I can tell you from my own experience that it makes a difference when it's the right person who waits for you." Her face flushed with warmth as she thought of Rory waiting for 2000 years outside the Pandorica, protecting it and her from harm until she was finally free. How she felt watching that video inside the museum and learning the depth of Rory's love for her.

Ianto gave her a confused look. "Are you also...?" he started.

"Oh no! No!" She laughed. "It's just... a long story." She patted Ianto's hand. "One day we'll tell you about. One day in the future, yeah? You and Jack together we'll tell." She smiled at him. "I'll make sure the Doctor takes us to visit you." She shrugged. "It might be some years down the line for you. You know, time travel and all."

Ianto gave her a tight smile but he moved his arm to squeeze her hand. "But bloody hell if it doesn't feel good to talk about all this madness with someone other than the lot I work with." His smile turned more genuine. He glanced at his watch. "Well, I'm supposed to be getting coffee for the team. Most of them anyway. Thank you for this talk." He nodded his head and started to stand. He took a step away from the table and stopped to look back at Amy and Rory. "We will meet again, you say?"

"Yes," Amy said.

"Only if you send Gwen home where she belongs, and you stay where you belong," Rory added. "Sit with him, as long as it takes. Like Amy said, talk, touch him. Maybe a kiss."

Ianto nodded. "I will. Thank you Amy Pond and Rory Williams. I look forward to meeting you again." He winked. "And tell the Doctor, thank you." With a tiny smile, he went into the café to order coffee.

Amy and Rory watched as Ianto ordered the coffee inside the café Amy smiled at Rory. "Do you think he'll listen?"

"I think so." Rory took Amy's hand. "We did everything we can do. It's up to Ianto now. That's all we are able to do."

Amy took a deep breath. "You're right. Come on. Let's go back to the TARDIS. Hopefully we'll know soon."


	6. Chapter 6

Ianto entered the Hub, with four coffees. He handed Tosh and Owen theirs. Owen had a sip and called out as Ianto headed toward the doorway leading down to the vaults, "Ianto, we really need to get a new coffee maker and soon!"

"Working on it," Ianto called out as he left the main area.

Down in the vaults, the first thing he saw was Gwen fussing with the hospital gown Jack was dressed in and his hair. Clearing his throat, he approached her, not trying to sneak up on her. He stood for a few more moments, trying not to grind his teeth as he watched her touch Jack.

"Gwen, it's time to go home," he finally said abruptly when it appeared that she did not notice him.

Gwen looked up. "Oh Ianto!" She straightened up, resting her hand on Jack's cold cheek. "One of those for me?" She indicated with her free hand to the coffee cups Ianto still held.

"Yes. You can take it to go."

Gwen frowned at Ianto. "I'm not giving up, Ianto," she pleaded with him. "Please don't close the drawer." She moved to stand at the head of the table, putting herself between Ianto and Jack.

Ianto fought the urge to snort. "I have no intention of locking Jack away today," he replied. He spoke on in a quiet even tone. "However, there is a man waiting for you at home. A man you claim you love. That you demanded of Jack to bring him back from death. Rhys is alive, Gwen. So it's time for you to be with him. I'll sit with Jack."

"You?" Gwen asked.

"Yes. Me." Ianto started to walk around Gwen, removing one of the coffees from the carrier to hold out to her.

"And then Owen will come down, believing he's in charge and tell you to close it up. Right?"

"If he didn't do that to you already," Ianto pointed out.

"But I'm in charge now. I can stop him. You won't be able to."

Ianto actually laughed. "Oh, I can stop him, Gwen. Believe me. For one, he wants coffee. He also knows fully well that I'm not afraid to fire my gun if the cause is right. And if those fail, I know neither you nor Owen want me to stop doing the administration paperwork."

Gwen made a face, as if she didn't understand the last part of Ianto's statement.

"It doesn't matter," Ianto waved her off with the hand now free as Gwen accepted the coffee. "Because Jack's still in charge. We just have to give him time to come back to us. It's my turn to sit with him, while you go and spend time with Rhys."

"Rhys could wait. He'll understand," Gwen stated, making to go back to Jack's side. "Jack needs me now."

Ianto stopped her with a hand on her arm. "No. I said you go home, Gwen. You only think you're in charge here, but you're not. You have no seniority over any of us, Gwen. Owen would be quick to back me up here on this."

"And once again, I say that then he'll move in to close the drawer."

"I'm not letting him. Just leave, Gwen." Ianto was starting to lose his patience with her stubbornness.

She gave Ianto a obstinate look and made to run her fingers in Jack's hair. Ianto yanked her away. "No! This has to stop. Jack is not your lover, Gwen. He's not your boyfriend. Rhys is. I think it's time you started acting like the girlfriend you love to brag so much about being. Honour Jack by not letting the life you have outside slip. Meanwhile, I'll sit here with my lover."

Gwen's eyes went wide. "What?"

Ianto gave her a sad smile. "You never noticed, huh? Well, we were trying to be discreet, but there you have it. So it's time for you to go where you belong, while I stay where I do."

Gwen shook her head, and opened her mouth to protest it. She was forestalled by footfalls across the track to join them. It was Owen. "Gwen, get the fuck home before you won't have your boyfriend to brag about any longer. Leave Ianto time to say goodbye to Jack." Owen gave Ianto a look before his attention went back to Gwen. "You never really gave anyone the chance because you decided to make it about you. Well, it's not. It's about Jack. And since Ianto is obviously involved with Jack, it's about him. So time to go home." He started to pull Gwen with him as he made his way back the way he came from. "Ianto, try not to take too long please?"

"I certainly hope not to," Ianto muttered. Once he was alone, he set the coffee aside and took Jack's hand. "That coffee is for you," he started. "It's not mine, but I know when you wake up, you'll want coffee. So try not to take too long before waking up, yeah?" Ianto studied Jack's face and shook his head.

Ianto started to cry silently, holding onto Jack's hand. "Oh Jack. Why? I want to believe you're not gone, but looking at you, I'm scared. I'm scared that we'll never get to see where this will lead us." Ianto saw a folded stool and pulled it over to sit on. He picked up Jack's hand again as he sat down. "I didn't ask to fall in love with you. I had Lisa, but I couldn't resist you. And then, she was gone. And you were so angry. Rightfully so. I did betray you. Betray your trust. And for a while, I felt so empty. I had nothing. I really thought I had nothing to live for. But you showed up at my flat on the first day of my suspension." Ianto smiled gently. "It wasn't exactly easy those first couple of weeks, but you succeeded. By the time I came back, I was still hurting, but I had hope. You gave me hope. I even found out later that you gave me life because Lisa had killed me. Eventually you gave me a reason to pick up and live again. And I did, Jack. Whatever time I got to spend with you, I felt alive and not just going through the motions. How could I not fall in love with you." Ianto freed one of his hands to cup the side of Jack's cold, hard face. "Of course, I'd never say that to you if I knew you could hear me. But it's true. I love you, Jack. Come back. Please?"

Ianto rested his head next to Jack's. "This can't be the end, Jack. Open your eyes. I want to see your eyes again. I refuse to believe I'll never see that brilliant smile of yours. C'mon on, Jack." He moved his head so his lips were against Jack's cold ones and started to kiss him. As much as Ianto wanted to believe it wasn't the end, he found himself kissing Jack as if he would never have the chance again. He never gave thought to when he managed to pry Jack's mouth open enough so he could breathe into his dead lover's mouth while he deepened the kiss.

He was not aware of the golden glow that had started to surround him, and continued to surround Jack. He had no idea that his ice blue eyes had turned gold. He was aware of the moment when Jack had started to kiss him back. With joy, he continued to deepen the kiss, enjoying the sensation of Jack's tongue exploring his mouth, of an arm on his back, becoming lighter as rigour mortis receded.

When they finally broke the kiss, Ianto was panting. He felt dizzy and drained, yet elated and excited. Jack was back! His Jack was alive again!

He helped Jack into a seated position. Jack lifted his arms to pull Ianto's head close and kissed him again. "Thank you," Jack sighed.

Ianto grinned and caught Jack's lower lip with his lips. "No," he murmured. "Thank you."

OoOoOoO

Tosh and Owen had been surprised when they noticed Ianto enter the Hub holding Jack's hand. They were both all smiles. There was a vibrant aura about the two men. Tosh and Owen both noticed it, but could not put a finger on it. It was more than the men having feelings for each other. There was something more. It was obvious they had taken the time for Jack to change. He was now wearing black trousers and work shirt, with grey braces.

Jack had greeted Toshiko, hugging her tightly. The Japanese woman held onto Jack just as tightly, overjoyed to have him back with them. Owen cautiously approached Jack, but the immortal quickly closed the distance to pull the medic into a hug, forgiving Owen, and then holding him while the normally gruff and abrasive man sobbed with guilt and relief. When Jack finally released Owen, he suggested the four of them go out for a meal. Ianto had already informed Jack that they had sent Gwen home to spend time with Rhys and Jack agreed with the decision. So no one bothered to call her and let her know Jack was alive again.

Gwen had a fit when she came in the next day to discover Jack was up and around. Until Jack came over to hug her. She held on tightly, resting her face on his shoulder, until Jack pulled away. For the rest of the day, the team was busy, pitching in on repairing the Hub. They had lunch in Jack's office, making plans on rebuilding some of the areas that needed more than cleaning up as a result of opening the Rift. The old boardroom was going to become a greenhouse, much to Owen's delight, where they would grow alien flora. The secondary boardroom on the same level as the cells would be upgraded to become the main boardroom.

The next day Jack and Ianto had gone out to look at furnishings for the new boardroom. On they way back, they stopped for lunch which to Ianto's surprise turned into an impromptu romantic meal in a posh restaurant near Centre City.

Coming from the Quay's carpark, they decided to bypass the Tourist Information booth and take the invisible lift. As they approached the Plass, Jack came to a sudden stop. Ianto saw it the same time as Jack.

It was the TARDIS.

Jack squeezed Ianto's hand and took a step forward as the door opened. Out stepped the Doctor,dressed in a brown pinstriped suit, red Converse trainers and a long brown coat. He lifted his head back, with hands in the pockets of his coat and seemed to be speaking to someone. A lovely woman started to come out from the TARDIS, her skin a creamy chocolate. She reminded Ianto of someone he once knew. The Doctor was the same one he had gotten a glimpse of when the Tower fell. And it was with thought that he remembered who the Doctor's current Companion reminded him of. Adeola Oshodi. She worked on executive level, under Yvonne Hartman's watchful eye, and eventually was placed on the team working the Ghost Shifts. She was more an acquaintance than friends, but they had crossed paths often enough to greet each other.

Jack tugged Ianto as he started to moved toward the TARDIS. Suddenly the Doctor looked in their direction. Ianto knew that he was going to have to let Jack go. Except Jack was still gripping his hand, dragging him along. The Doctor had a surprised look and then started to frown. Turning abruptly toward the TARDIS's door, the Time Lord shoved the woman with him back into the TARDIS and ran inside himself, slamming the door. Closing Jack out. The light on the top of the TARDIS started to flash and a whining, grating sound filled the Plass.

"No!" Jack gasped. "DOCTOR!" he yelled out, still pulling Ianto along, making him break into a run as they ran toward the TARDIS.

Jack glanced at Ianto as the TARDIS started to fade in and out of sight.

Ianto knew he would hate himself for the rest of his life, but it would be worse if he did not do what he did. He pulled away from Jack's hand. "Go!" he insisted.

Jack looked startled for a moment, and then for another moment which seemed to last an eternity to Ianto, Jack looked back to the TARDIS, preparing to break into a sprint, and attempt to latch onto the blue box.

Instead, Jack grabbed onto Ianto's hand. "I can't," he said as the TARDIS faded for good, and the sound died away. "I can't leave you."

In shock, Ianto stared at Jack, while the other man took large gulps of air, attempting not to start crying. Ianto latched himself onto Jack, putting his arms around him and hugged him. Jack returned the hold and buried his face in Ianto's shoulder. They stood there for a few minutes until Jack finally lifted his head and smiled at Ianto. He took both of Ianto's hands in his.

"There was a time I was waiting for the Doctor, wanting to leave with him. But that changed. I knew I couldn't leave this team willingly. I'm here for as long as I'm needed." He moved his head closer to Ianto's. "And then there's you. I realized that I don't want to leave you. That if I got into the TARDIS to travel with the Doctor, you would be with me. And then we would return here, to the others." Jack shrugged. "All I wanted to do was have a chance to talk to him, ask him what happened on Satellite Five. How did I come back to life after the Daleks killed me, and how come I can't stay dead?" His voice lowered. "Will I always be like this." His eyes closed. "Because it has been a lonely existence for a long time until recently, and I'm afraid of the day that I'll be alone again." His eyes met Ianto's. "But for you, it's worth taking that risk." He closed the distance between their heads and took Ianto's lips in a passionate kiss. "This is why," he said when they broke the kiss. "This is what I really want. Answers to my questions would be nice, but it won't give me what I have now."

"I'm sure we'll see the Doctor again," Ianto ventured, remembering Amy's promise from the other day. He looked thoughtful. "How do we know this was the right Doctor?" he asked, also remembering what else Amy had told him.

Jack gazed at Ianto and then shrugged, giving him a rueful smile. "I'll just have to believe everything happens for a reason. And that may be why. Even if he looks like the Doctor who fought the Sycorax."

Ianto nodded. "Or was at Canary Wharf," he added. He dared to pull Jack into his arms and held him. "Are you sure you'll be okay?"

"Yeah. Especially if you believe this isn't the last chance I have to talk to him."

"I do," Ianto said. He sighed heavily. "What do you say we take the rest of the afternoon off unless we're needed. I have something to tell you."

Once they were settled in Ianto's flat, armed with coffee, Ianto told Jack of his encounter with Amy Pond and Rory Williams.

It was enough for Jack to keep believing. To believe that he would one day have a chance to get his answers, while not leaving Ianto behind.

OoOoOoO

The team found themselves investigating a series of murders in which Owen discovered the victims were being injected with ammonium hydroxide in not so easily noticed places, such as between toes and in the eyeball. Ianto had discovered there were many more similar deaths across the UK. Everyone came to a quick agreement that the case had to be followed through when Toshiko discovered the victims' medical records were deleted from the NHS system. What made it more disturbing was the brilliant tech was unable to retrieve the files. That was a major flag for them.

They got a break when Ianto came across a report of a victim who had survived a recent attack. Owen and Tosh went to interview her, while Jack, Ianto and Gwen split up to interview friends and family of some of the other recent victims. They all returned back to the Hub with the same story, that the victims had been cured of incurable diseases. They also had a name – The Pharm. Apparently all the victims they were able to further investigate were clinical trials subjects for the Pharm. They were cured, but now they were being killed.

It was decided that Ianto would go in as a student looking to make some extra money as a clinical trials subject. Dressed for the part, and wearing a pair of alien contact lenses which allowed the others back in the Hub to see what Ianto saw through them, Ianto managed to get himself signed up. All he had to do was find a chance to get to the main computer and give Toshiko access to hack her way in. It should have been simple with Ianto gone from the Pharm by the morning.

It ended up being a long night. While attempting to make his escape after getting Tosh access to download the Pharm's files, he found himself face to face with a giant fly-like creature, and captured by security guards. Whatever the insect was, it caused Ianto's eyes to dry up to the point he had to take the contacts out.

Jack was anxious to get inside the compound and rescue Ianto, despite knowing that in the end, Ianto would be okay. He was finally starting to understand why Ianto would still get upset whenever Jack would die. He felt the same when it was him waiting for Ianto to take that first gasping breath as he returned to the world of the living. The team managed to get into the compound thanks to Toshiko, whom Jack realised scared him sometimes. But it worked and they were in, breaking up into teams. Jack went off to find Ianto, while he sent Owen, Gwen and Tosh to investigate the compound, and hopefully find the Mayfly, which was an alien insect used to cure otherwise incurable diseases. The team found more than the Mayfly and reported back to Jack there were Weevils and other alien lifeforms being used as lab animals and in various forms of abuse.

Jack had found Ianto in Copley's main office, with the Mayfly injected inside him. Doctor Copley was amazed at Ianto's great health along with traces of something he identified as temporal substance. It was the Vortex within Ianto that was picked up, but Ianto allowed the doctor to believe that he was a time traveller, rather than a man who had so far never left the Earth, had only gone back in time for only a day and otherwise normal, except for being immortal. Ianto knew it was safer for Copley to believe what the genius (though mad) doctor thought rather than saying anything to change his mind.

Jack ordered Gwen and Toshiko to round up the staff and prepare to shut down operations through Toshiko's laptop. Meanwhile he had to deal with Ianto, who had a living, growing Mayfly moving around inside him. Jack fought down panic and was relieved when Owen ran into the office. Jack's relief turned to dismay when Owen pulled out the singularity scalpel, declaring it was the only thing he had to stop the Mayfly from growing inside Ianto. Owen's previous endeavours to control the device usually lead to amusement for the team, and once almost found himself on decaf when he nearly shot Ianto who was carrying a tray refreshments for the team.

Owen swore he would get it right this time, despite his attempt earlier on one of Copley's assassins who was brought in that night by Jack and Gwen. The man ended up with his stomach broken open and died immediately. Jack decided to put his trust in Owen, while holding Copley back. Ianto was in too much pain to know what was about to happen.

Owen was wrong.

He had the same results with Ianto as he had with the dead man now propped up in the driver's seat of the SUV, which was their way into the compound to rescue Ianto.

Copley went into shock when he was splattered with Ianto's innards. Jack cried out in anguish and decided rather than Owen, to take it out on Copley. By the time Ianto had healed and took his first breath, Copley was bound, checked for weapons and being taken out to join the others at gunpoint by Owen.

Once Jack and Ianto joined the team, Jack gave the order to shut down operations. Copley tried to escape anyway, managing to knock Owen to the ground. Jack jumped into the fray and there was a struggle for his gun which had landed on the dirty ground when Owen went down.

The night went silent when a gunshot went off. Copley shoved Jack's body away and started to get up. He never made it when Ianto shot him point blank.

They had a long night as they continued clean up and closing down the facility, as well as Retconning the employees. In the early morning hours, they returned to the Hub with Copley's body to put in their stock, along with the assassin's. Jack then told Toshiko, Owen and Gwen to go home and not come back until the next morning.

He followed his own advice when once the bodies were stored, Jack and Ianto shut down the Hub, and set the Rift alert to go through Jack's wristband, they went to Ianto's flat for the rest of the day.

It was then that Ianto realized that they had been spending more and more nights in his flat and was starting to like that very much.

OoOoOoO

Owen met up with Tosh and Ianto in the streets. The two were taking cover in a doorway when he found them.

"Take care of her," Ianto said to Owen after he kissed her on the forehead.

"Of course," was Owen's reply as he placed a protective arm around Tosh's shoulders.

"Head back to the Hub," Ianto stated, authority in his voice. "Gwen is back there with Hart. He's trying to locate Jack's whereabouts." He decided to keep the full story of how Jack was assumed to be buried somewhere in Cardiff. While at first John Hart had been confident that he would be able to find Jack he could not pick up the signal of the tracking ring Jack had been buried with him. "Owen, lend them whatever assistance you can. Tosh, I'm going to need you to assist me in keeping things from going critical. And most important of all - no one harm Hart until I get my go at him. And that's an order."

Owen and Tosh nodded their heads with looks of amusement. "You be careful, Ianto."

"I will," Ianto said, aware of his responsibilities. He could not afford to be killed on his way to Turnmill. They could all be dead by the time he revived if he could not get to the plant in time. "I'll use the perception filter to get across town."

Tosh hugged him one more time as Owen patted him on the back. "We'll all get through this," the medic said and then taking Tosh by her hand, he lead the way toward the Hub.

Ianto hoped they would be okay.

OoOoOoO

Tosh and Owen got back to the Hub after Gwen and John Hart were locked in the cells by Gray. Toshiko immediately went to her work station and prepare to assist Ianto while Owen went to investigate where Gwen and Hart had gotten to.

Owen found the two in the vaults. They warned Owen that Gray was loose in the Hub. Owen went racing back to Tosh while John managed to get a trace on Jack - right there in the Hub, in the vaults to the morgue. Gwen and John ran down to release Jack. Before long, the three were making their way up to join Owen and Toshiko and to check on how things were going with Ianto at Turnmill. Gwen had given Jack a quick rundown on what the Captain had missed out on along the way.

They entered the Hub behind Gray just as he was taking a shot at Toshiko. Owen grabbed her. pulling them both down but not without the bullet getting Owen in his shoulder.

"Oi! For fuck's sake, not the bloody shoulder again!" Owen roared.

Jack acted on pure instinct to protect his team, and lifted the gun he had drawn. He fired first, hitting Gray. Taking Jack's shot as permission, both Gwen and John, who flanked Jack on both sides started to fire at Gray, who despite being shoot was aiming to shoot at Owen and Tosh again. John got an amazing shot at Gray's wrist which made him drop the gun while Gwen's shot got him in the back.

After the firing, silence fell. Owen scrambled to his knees, helping Tosh up. Jack stared in stunned silence at his fallen little brother with a dazed look on his face.

Owen went over to the man who slightly resembled their Captain and checked for a pulse. He shook his head before gazing up at Jack. "I'm sorry, Jack."

"No," Jack croaked. He shook his head as if to clear it, closing his eyes as if he hoped that when he opened them again that Gray would be alive. That his younger brother would be alive and ready to forgive Jack for letting go of his hand and all he had endured. That it would finally be time for the happy reunion Jack had dreamed of for centuries.

"Is everyone okay there?" Ianto's voice filled the Hub. "Is that Jack I heard?"

Everyone but Jack turned to the monitor where Tosh had been helping Ianto hack his way through the nuclear plant's system in an attempt to prevent meltdown.

Jack fell on his knees at Gray's side, pulling his brother's lifeless body onto his lap. Silent tears fell from Jack's eyes, streaking down his face.

"Ianto!" Toshiko exclaimed. "Oh God! I'm sorry!"

"It's fine Tosh. Is everyone okay?"

"We're fine, Ianto. Owen got hit in the shoulder but he should be used to recovering from shoulder wounds." She glanced back and then to Ianto. She noted the readings on another screen. She saw the different lighting surrounding Ianto. "Jack's... Gray is dead."

Ianto suddenly had a pained look on his face as if he wanted to be with his lover and comfort Jack in his time of need. He knew that it would be a long wait until he could.

"Tell Jack that I'm sorry. I'm sorry I can't be there for him."

"Ianto?" Toshiko asked. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Ianto replied. "I'm okay. The bad news is that I couldn't stop it. The good news is that you're all safe. I managed to contain it."

Toshiko covered her mouth with her hand, looking at the monitor in fear. "And you, Ianto?" she finally asked removing her hand. "You're still inside."

"I had no choice. I could not rig a way to assure it was contained automatically so I could get out before lockdown."

Gwen came over to stand next to Toshiko. "Ianto, are you saying you're trapped in a room flooded with nuclear radiation?"

Jack's attention was finally away from his dead brother. Settling him gently on the floor, he crawled to his feet and joined Tosh and Gwen. Owen and John stood behind them. John had been assisting Owen in field first aid on his wound until they had time to properly clean it and bandage it.

"Ianto!" Jack cried out desperately. He had no idea what exposure to that level of radiation meant for his lover. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Bloody hell, it a miracle he didn't disintegrate in a blaze of glory," Owen muttered.

Jack shuddered at the thought, uncertain if either Ianto or himself would be able to come back from that. "Ianto, tell me the truth. What does this mean for you?"

Everyone looked at Jack when they heard the broken tone in the Captain's question. One look told them that Jack would not handle it well at all if after just losing his younger brother, he would lose the man he loved.

"I'm fine, Jack," Ianto assured the distraught Captain. "I'm not going anywhere anytime soon." Ianto sighed. "Unfortunately I mean that literally."

Jack looked aghast but he took a deep breath, willing all the confidence he could muster when he spoke again. "You're alive. That's good, yeah?" he asked. Before Ianto could reply, he rambled on, "And you're going to stay alive. Don't worry, cariad. We'll find a way to get you back to us."

Toshiko was already busy studying her readings.

"What's the matter?" Gwen asked, completely confused. "If Ianto survived it then why can't he leave?"

"Lockdown," Owen simply stated, rolling his eyes.

Toshiko had more patience than the grumpy medic, being used to explain to her friend what the Welshwoman was slow to comprehend. "It means the same as when we have a lockdown here."

"Except we don't have the Hub filled with radiation," Owen pitched in.

Jack gave a pained look, the loss of Gray still in his eyes. "Even if we were able to find a way to get Ianto out, he's contaminated now. And who knows how long it will take before it's safe to enter without risking contaminating the surrounding area." Jack looked down for a moment. "Ianto, I swear, as soon as we can, we'll get you out."

"I know, Jack," Ianto said calmly. "Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry about Gray."

Jack glanced back at his brother's body, still where he left him. "Yeah. Me too." His voice broke.

Hart's was also looking at the man who had been both a partner and a captor to him. His eyes rested on the wristband on the dead man. "Jack, I think I have an idea on how we can get Eye Candy out of there."

Jack looked at his ex-partner. "What are you thinking?"

"Gray's Vortex Manipulator. Mine's gone to crap now," the Time Agent explained, holding up his arm to show his makeshift bandage. "I had a bit of an accident. I'll explain it later. But Gray's is still operative."

Jack dropped to his knees by his brother again. Tears started to fall, but oddly, his mind filled with images of a broken Ianto cradling Lisa, the half-converted Cyberman that was Ianto's girlfriend after the team had shot her. Gray's death was reminiscent of Lisa's, including Jack firing the first shot. Gently he removed the strap from his brother's body. "Owen, how long will it take to get the decon chamber ready?"

"Tosh can have it up and running in ten minutes," Owen replied. "You need me to monitor the readings during decon."

"You'll both have to stay there overnight," Tosh warned him.

"Then thank goodness for the small comforts we have in there. Gwen, can you make certain that there's a change of comfortable clothes for both me and Ianto please?" Jack's mind was made up.

"Jack! What if by some chance you can't survive it here?" Ianto's voice was strained with worry.

"If you're fine, he'll be fine," Owen assured Ianto. He placed a hand on Jack's shoulder. "I'll handle your brother, but I won't lock the vault until you're ready to."

Jack nodded slowly as he rested his fingers on Gray's face. "I'm so sorry, Gray. What I wouldn't have given to save you...from everything. But...my team, all this time they've become my family too. I couldn't watch you kill them. I just couldn't." Tears started to freely flow from Jack's eyes.

He stood up. "I'm going so Ianto won't have to be alone while you get things ready," he announced to everyone. His attention went to Owen, "You're in charge around here until we're cleared."

John clasped Jack on his arm, giving it a small squeeze. "If you don't mind, I'll hang around and help out. Whatever your team needs."

"Thanks, John." He looked at Owen again, then Tosh and finally Gwen, while opening the wristband. He smiled when Toshiko offered him a PDA with the coordinates that would take him to Ianto.

"I already set the return coordinates," Toshiko informed him. "And once you're both gone, I'll be able to remove any evidence of either of you from there and keep your secret safe."

"Thank you," he said quietly, still overwhelmed with emotion. He set the Vortex Manipulator for his destination.

"Okay kids, don't make too much trouble while your parents are out." He managed to give them a cocky grin, despite his eyes a brighter blue than they usually are from the tears still falling. He pushed a button and was gone.

No one talked about, but they all knew that Jack needed to be with Ianto for comfort as well as be there for his lover during the wait.

Jack and Ianto were released the next evening from decon. The first thing Jack did upon release was go down to the vaults to say goodbye to his brother before closing the drawer. Ianto took Jack home and offered support while the older immortal grieved.

Captain John Hart decided to stay on the Earth for a while. Jack and Ianto extended an open invitation to the Time Agent as a freelancer and John accepted.

OoOoOoO

Jack moved into Ianto's flat less than a week later, suddenly finding himself unable to stand being in his cubbyhole beneath his office.

Three months later, they were looking for a bigger flat.

OoOoOoO


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

Jack and Ianto were getting ready to go into work when their phone rang. It was Gwen, exclaiming that all the children in the UK had stopped at the same time. The occurrence had caused more than several traffic accidents. Ianto's sister, Rhiannon called shortly after, scared out of her wits about what she had witnessed while taking her children, David and Mica to school. She decided to take them home. Jack was on the phone to his daughter to discover Stephen, his grandson, had done the same thing.

By the time Jack and Ianto had arrived at the Hub, Rhys had called Gwen, complaining about children stopping in the middle of the street and blocking traffic. Andy had contacted Gwen as well, wondering if it could be a spooky do.

Jack and Ianto had to admit this could be a big spooky do, and called John Hart in, just in case they needed assistance. Andy was instructed to contact him with any other strange occurrences concerning children. Gwen was sent to England to speak to an elderly man who seemed to be the only adult who acted like the children. By then, they realized it had happened worldwide.

When Tosh and Owen returned, Ianto left the Hub for a while. His sister was really shaken by what happened and was worried about her children, especially when it happened two more times by lunch. So Ianto went to visit her, and run some scans on them. It worked two ways as far as Jack and Ianto had agreed. Ianto was able to check if there was anything permanent or serious with Mica and David. As he scanned the data was immediately sent back to the Hub, where both Toshiko and Owen were running tests. Ianto was able to assure his sister that both of the children were just fine. Meanwhile back at the Hub, they had data to further study in hopes to figure out what had happened.

Jack had gone to Alice's house, explaining to his daughter that he wanted to be sure Stephen was okay. He told her Ianto went to his sister's to run the same scans and it helped ease her mind. Reluctantly, Alice allowed Jack to do the same to Stephen. After visiting for a while, Jack drove back to the Hub.

He ended up having a car accident on the way home. His Jag was totalled and he was killed. Witnesses would tell the police that there happened to be an EMT vehicle up the road and had responded when they heard the accident. Jack's body was taken away in an ambulance.

Jack woke up in an alleyway, having no idea how he got there, but vaguely remembered being killed several times, including once in an ambulance.

Tosh and Owen ended up going to a hospital, hoping to get more samples from children. They were still out when first Ianto, then Gwen returned from their outings. It was late afternoon, so when Toshiko called in, Ianto told them to go home and get some rest while they had the chance. Ianto had a feeling it was going to get worse before it got better.

He had no idea how right he was.

His mind was first on Gwen, who seemed to be in a daze, not seeming to hear what he was saying and just roamed around the Hub, not really the resource of information she normally would be when returning from an interview. She focused on Ianto long enough to ask where Owen was. Ianto told her he had given Tosh and Owen the rest of the night off, unless something happened that would mean to call them in. He started to tell Gwen to do the same, but she appeared not to be listening to him anymore. He watched in concern as she made her way down to the medical bay. He decided whatever was wrong with Gwen, it would be best if Rhys came by to take her home. After he hopefully found out what was wrong. Ianto was tempted to call Owen back in, but held off. Gwen seemed more distracted than harmed in any way. He hoped Jack would be back soon and together they could figure out what was wrong with Gwen before handing her over to Rhys to take home.

He glanced at his watch again and bit his lip, trying not to worry. Jack should have been back by then. The older immortal had called Ianto when he was leaving Alice's house. It was taking him too long, and with no phone calls to inform Ianto of any delays. Jack had been good about that, especially after they started to live together. When Jack had first moved in with Ianto, he had bucked back some whenever Ianto had asked him where he was going or what time did he expect to be home whenever Jack would go out on his own. Then after a couple of months, Jack seemed to settle in nicely with it. He would call to inform Ianto of his whereabouts on the times they were not together, whether it was work related or not, and Ianto would return the same courtesy. By now, Jack seemed to thrive on it, knowing there was someone who cared enough to expect phone calls, that Jack cared enough about someone to not let them worry. That Jack needed to be assured by Ianto's calls in the same way.

He had taken out his mobile and was going to call Jack when the alarms went off and the cog door rolled back. Jack entered, looking a little worn. One look and Ianto had a feeling what happened. He did not say anything. He merely went over to Jack, pulling him into a comforting hug. Jack's arms went around him and held on, resting his face in the crook of Ianto's neck and shoulder.

Rubbing Jack's back, Ianto asked, "Want to talk about it?"

Pulling away, Jack gave Ianto a small smile. "Once I figure out what the hell happened, I will. But for now, I need a tracer on the Jag, although I suspect it's been towed. I'm pretty sure it's rubbish now."

"I'll look into it," Ianto assured him. "Do you remember where you crashed? I can pull up CCTV to see if we can figure out the mystery."

Jack smiled wider. "That's one of the many things I love about you, Ianto." He hugged Ianto again, planting a firm kiss on the younger man's lips.

"Jack, I was wondering if you could look in on Gwen. She's been acting strange since she returned. And not forthcoming at all on what she had learned from Clem MacDonald.," Ianto asked after Jack gave Ianto the information on where his car crash had happened.

Jack went to the autopsy bay, his mouth opened to ask Gwen how she was doing. He took one look at the image projected on the wall and found himself silent for a moment. Realising she was no longer alone, Gwen looked nervously up at Jack.

"Is that...?" Jack asked as he came down the steps to join Gwen at the body scanner.

Gwen nodded. "Yes. I think it is."

"That's great, Gwen," Jack exclaimed, his eyes on the image again. Gwen went back to staring as well. When she did not reply, he glanced over at her. "Isn't it?" he asked.

Gwen took a deep breath. And then at last she started to smile brightly. "It's bloody brilliant!" she exclaimed as she went back to staring at the image of the foetus growing within her.

"Ianto! We're having a baby!" Jack called out throughout the Hub.

Ianto appeared at the railing and leaning on it, glanced down. He smiled when he saw the image. He was happy for Gwen. He was happier for Rhys, whom Ianto had known wanted a family. It was Gwen's insistence that children and Torchwood did not mix that prevented them from being a family already, despite the Williamses looking into buying a house and finally move out of the small flat they had been living in all these years.

Ianto's thoughts came to an abrupt end as he watched Jack place his hand over Gwen's as he assured her they would work out a way for her to have a family. Gwen's hand still rested on the scanner and the moment Jack's hand touched hers, the Hub's lighting dimmed. Suddenly the Hub was engulfed in red lighting as warning klaxons went off.

Ianto looked again and could not believe what the scanner revealed within Jack's body. "Oh my God," Ianto uttered. He spared a glance at Jack. Their eyes met and Ianto knew what he had to do.

"What's wrong?" Gwen asked as Jack started to pull her up the steps. "Jack, what is it?"

Jack rushed across the Hub with Gwen in tow. Ianto met up with them, handing Gwen her bag.

"A bomb," was Jack's reply.

"What? How?"

"No time Gwen," Ianto snapped. "Get out of here now. Call the others and let them know. I'll contact you first chance I can." Both Ianto and Jack were shoving Gwen through the cog door.

Gwen paused as if to protest being forced to leave. "Just go, Gwen!" Jack insisted. "I'll be fine. You won't. And you have a baby now. Go!" He shoved her through the door as Ianto ran across the Hub.

Ianto was at Tosh's workstation and was typing furiously. The cog door was closing behind Gwen. "I'm activating lockdown procedures," he said, not looking up as he worked. "We have four minutes and eight seconds to get you in a time bubble."

Jack went to Ianto's side. "Ianto get out of here."

"You can't activate it yourself. And if we don't get you in it, you'll take the Hub and who knows how much else with you. At least I can coordinate with the team. Maybe find out who did this."

"I hate when you're right."

Ianto guided Jack to the stairs leading to the hothouse. Owen was going to kill them but if he had the lock set right, they would lose less than half of what was in there. Ianto briefly considered leaving Jack on the main level but he could continue to work and coordinate with the others without having to go around a time bubble in the middle of the Hub.

Jack started to rush up the stairs but Ianto stopped him by grabbing his arm and pulling him back. Their arms wrapped around each other as they kissed deeply. Ianto tried to push the thought that it was a goodbye kiss out of his mind.

Jack saw the look on Ianto's face and knew what he was thinking. "I'll come back," Jack promised resting his forehead against Ianto's. "I always do. But I gotta go now."

"I know. I love you, Jack." Ianto caressed Jack's cheek tenderly.

"I love you too. Take care of the others." Jack handed Ianto his Vortex Manipulator.

"We'll be waiting for you."

Jack ran up to the hothouse and Ianto back to Tosh's station.

Ianto activated the bubble once he saw Jack inside the hothouse and then he counted down the remaining seconds. His eyes closed as the bomb went off.

The bubble had contained the worse of the explosion but everything still shook enough that Ianto was certain it was felt above ground.

He purposely avoided the screen that had CCTV up in the hothouse, not wanting to see what happened to Jack. Not yet. If he did, he knew he would breakdown and he had a job to do.

He pulled up the CCTV of Gwen picking herself up from the ground and making her way to the Plass.

Hoping she didn't lose her comm unit in her fall, he switched on the frequency they rarely used but was glad it was developed. "Gwen there are EMTs heading your way. What I want to know is what are they waiting for."

"Us," Gwen replied with the same thing Ianto was thinking. "Oh Ianto. I'm so glad to hear you."

"I'm going to be your guide until Jack comes back to us. Now turn left 35 degrees and walk briskly. Run if need be. I see Hart coming in your direction and he's the closest. "Owen and Tosh are coming up behind your shady EMTs."

"Bloody right we are," Owen's voice came across the channel everyone on the team could hear. "What the fuck happened Ianto?"

"I'll tell you once I get everyone safe. And take prisoners if you can. We need answers."

"And you suspect they have them?" Tosh asked.

The EMTs closed the distance and one of them grabbed Gwen by her arm. Ianto watched as the struggled for a few seconds before one of the EMTs went down and John Hart sighted his gun on the second.

"Change of plans, mate," Hart said. "She's not going with you. You're coming with us."

Two more of the fake EMTs started to run back to the ambulance they all had jumped out of once they saw Gwen. With pride he watched as Owen and Tosh handled them and commandeered the ambulance. Soon Gwen and John were forcing their prisoners into the back of the ambulance with Owen behind the wheel.

Ianto directed them to pick up Andy and Rhys. "Right," he said once they had Rhys. "The Hub is in total lockdown until further notice. Tosh, you know what that means so direct Owen to your destination. Keep your comms on at all times."

"We'll let you know when we get there," Tosh assured him.

Ianto finally went to drop on the couch. By then he had learned that Tosh received the alert through her laptop. Tosh and Owen were already leaving her flat when Ianto sent messages to the team of the attack on Jack and the Hub. Gwen and Hart had found out that the men with the ambulance were hired by the government but that was all they knew. They were given photographs of Ianto, Owen, Tosh and Gwen, and told if seen on the Plass to grab them and take them to an undisclosed location. They were to get further instructions once they had captured at least one of the team.

They also knew that since the men with the ambulance was supposed to be the greeting party until they got further notice, Owen was able to get up to Cathays without a tail. It was there that Rhys spotted a Harwood's lorry. Everyone agreed it would be a good idea to ditch the ambulance. They had already made a quick discreet stop to dump the government men, who were Retconned before the stop. They did not have to pull the Torchwood card yet, as Rhys pulled rank on the driver. Thankfully, the driver knew Rhys well enough that if he was insisting to take the lorry, there had to be a good reason, even if he would never know what.

With Rhys now driving the lorry, the team was heading up to Pontypridd, where there was a hidden Annex tucked away under an old warehouse. They would stay the night there and hopefully by the morning there would be a plan.

Having nothing else to do for the time, Ianto forced himself onto his feet and made his way up to the hothouse and finally see what had become of Jack from the explosion. Ianto stared inside and then immediately turned around, feeling like he was going to get violently sick All the blood and gore within the bubble was too much. But he forced himself to look again. He placed his palm against the glass of the hothouse and then leaned his forehead against it, as hot tears fell from his eyes. "Oh Jack," he sighed. "Jack. Please. Please come back from this somehow."

Except no matter how hard he looked, he was only able to count three identifiable body parts – a shoulder, an arm and Jack's head. He finally had to close his eyes against the nightmare before him, but it did no good. He could still see what was left of the man he loved.

And Ianto honestly had no idea how Jack was supposed to return from that.

OoOoOoO

Early the next morning, Ianto studied the CCTV of the Plass. He was particularly fascinated with the woman with dark hair and black clothes who was in charge of the detail sniffing around the Plass. She wore her hair back in a harsh severe style, which matched the look on her face of hard lines and angles. Ianto mused that despite her hard edges, she was an attractive woman. He also figured out that she was definitely government, most likely MI5, and definitely responsible for the bomb. If they were expecting to find rubble and bodies, they had to have been disappointed. In fact, Ianto was willing to bet the fact that was the main reason why the woman in black was in a foul mood.

They had cordoned off the Plass. Official news reports that initially came out was a gas line had ruptured the night before and caused the shaking felt in some areas around the Plass. He looked at the image of another camera by the Tourist Information Centre, where more of her people were attempting to get past the gate that had slid into place once Ianto activated the lockdown, keeping them from getting inside. Not that they would get far if they did, even if they found the button under the counter. It was rendered useless. It could be depressed as many times as they liked if they got that far, and nothing would happen to indicate it was nothing more than a small Tourist booth that when opened offered friendly personal service that the bigger newer information centre lacked. At least that was the reputation Ianto had given the small place that was closed almost more than it was open.

"Ianto?" he heard Gwen's voice come from over the comm link.

"Gwen," he said, his relief in the one syllable. "Where are you?"

"We're approaching London. Rhys and I are fine, Ianto. So is Hart. Somehow Rhys and John haven't killed each other yet."

"You have those mobiles we had in stock at the Annex?" Ianto asked.

"Yes. And Tosh activated them with her laptop." Gwen let out a nervous laugh. "You and Jack have been holding out on us, Ianto," she said. Her tone was teasing, but there was a tinge of hurt that she had not been told about the location. Not only were there rooms where they slept comfortably the night before, and was stocked with food, but there were a couple of cars and a mini van. All vehicles had plates that like the main SUV did not register with the system. There was also a supply of technology, including an overflow of alien technology that had been catalogued and not used in the last ten years, along with duplicates that were in the Archives in the Hub. It was also where the larger items that came through the Rift and crashed eventually ended up. Everything was beneath an abandoned innocuous warehouse that was owned by a blanket company controlled by Torchwood. Toshiko was given the codes to enter the Annex years ago because she was the technician. She had only been there two times; the first was to receive a tour of the place. This was before Gwen was recruited. Usually it was Jack and Ianto who went there to store various artefacts. She let out a huff of air. "I spoke to Lois again. I convinced her to meet us for lunch."

"Just be careful, Gwen," Ianto said. "If this wasn't so bloody important, you would be sitting back at the Annex with Alice and Rhia."

"I'll be fine, Ianto. So far it doesn't' seem anyone is looking for us out of Cardiff. I take it you got your families tucked away safe then?"

"Yes. They are. I need to thank you and Tosh for thinking of our families."

Ianto had to admit to himself that once he got the phone call from Tosh, saying she and Gwen were talking and they realized that Jack and Ianto had family in the Cardiff area and whoever was after the team could use their families against them. Once that thought was planted, Ianto was a nervous wreck while Toshiko and Owen left in separate vehicles to collect Alice and Stephen, and Rhiannon, Johnny, Mica and David. Ianto had called his sister and Jack's daughter ahead, requesting that they pack essentials for a couple of days and be ready when their ride appears. Alice was frantic about her father, having heard on the news of a gas line explosion on the Plass and not fooled. Ianto spared her the details, but assured her that Jack would be okay in the end. Talking to Alice managed to calm Ianto and reaffirm his belief that he had not lost Jack, despite what he had been looking at every time he looked into the hothouse.

Gwen cut the conversation and Ianto went to make coffee. He needed to do something normal, and he realized he had not had coffee since before everything had happened the night before. It just did not occur to him until then. The time bubble had gone down over an hour before. And yet he was still waiting and researching, using whatever little information that would trickle in.

OoOoOoO

Ianto swore that he would hear the screams in his mind for the next century or so. Until it started, he believed that the night before was the worse stretch of time ever for him. It had paled once he heard the first screams from the hothouse. It had been hours now, and Jack's body was more or less whole, but still regenerating. It was gross and disgusting, Jack looking more like a creature from the worse horror movies and Ianto had trouble reconciling the forming body before him with the tall, handsome man he had fallen in love with. But it was still Jack and Ianto still longed to hold him, comfort him until the screaming finally stopped and Jack was back to himself. But the outer layer of skin had not formed, and Ianto feared he would hurt Jack more holding him. So he sat on the floor close to the reforming body, knees drawn and tears streaming down his face, while he talked to Jack, He hoped it would not be long before he felt that he could hold Jack in his arms, and then not long after that, Jack would be whole and completely healed.

OoOoOoO

Jack and Ianto used a rarely used tunnel to leave the Hub and join the others in the Annex. For the longest time, Jack and his daughter had a complicated and difficult relationship. Alice's son, Stephen knew the man who was his grandfather as his Uncle Jack. Yet when it was all said and done, father and daughter loved each other. Jack made sure Alice and Stephen were never wanting of anything, especially after Alice's husband left her, and was slow on providing support. Whenever Ianto watched Jack with Stephen, there was no doubt that the little boy was the apple of Jack's eye.

When they arrived at the Annex, Ianto was warmed to watch as Alice ran to her father, and threw her arms around him, glad to see him healthy and well again. She wept in Jack's chest for a minute, Jack holding his daughter protectively, glad that she and Stephen were safe.

Meanwhile Rhiannon rushed over to Ianto, also hugging her brother first, and then hitting him for scaring her half to death, or so she said. Johnny came over to greet Ianto, seeming a bit confused, but trusting his wife enough to just go along with things.

Toshiko entered the main area with three children in tow. She smiled when she saw Jack and Ianto being greeted by their families. Alice was now with Ianto, hugging him too, and thanking him for being there for her father, while Rhiannon treated Jack like the family she had decided he was back when Ianto announced he was living with Jack. Toshiko wanted to run to Jack, glad to see him finally in one piece, but stopped herself when the little blonde boy with Jack's eyes rushed forward.

"Granpa!" he cried out, racing for Jack.

"Wha?" Jack asked, his arms outstretched to catch Stephen.

Alice smiled at Jack. "We had time to have a nice talk early this morning, Dad. I was wrong keeping the truth from him. Not anymore."

Holding Stephen in his arms, with the boy's arms around his neck, Jack smiled back at his daughter, tears in his eyes. "Thank you," he said before speaking to Stephen.

Meanwhile Ianto made sure his niece and nephew were handling things okay. Mica decided to cling to him, while David was talking on about how aliens would speak through them.

OoOoOoO

Gwen and Rhys met with Lois Habiba and managed to talk her into wearing the contact lenses that Ianto had used back when he infiltrated the Pharm. The rest of the team watched the proceedings on how their government made plans that would affect the rest of the world.

They knew they could not let it continue. Jack seemed genuinely upset as they learned more about what they were dealing with. Jack finally took Ianto by his hand.

"I need to talk to you," Jack said low.

Ianto allowed Jack to lead them into their room. Sitting down on the bed, Ianto watched Jack pace nervously. Quietly he watched him, knowing when he was ready, Jack would start talking.

"It's all my fault," Jack suddenly announced.

Ianto looked at him. "How do you figure that?"

Looking anguished, Jack told Ianto about how he had delivered 12 children to aliens that were designated as the 456 back in 1965 in exchange for a cure to a virus.

Ianto shook his head. They both had done things they weren't proud of, but regardless the cost, Ianto was certain Jack was thinking of the greater numbers, and 12 children was a high price, but risking thousands of lives was higher. Ianto understood why Jack had made such decisions back when he first met the immortal. He understood it better, because he would have made the same choices. Might make them some day in the future.

"You didn't know they would come back demanding more," Ianto said. "You only made the choice that protected the most people. And I know it wasn't a task that you enjoyed."

Running a hand through his hair, Jack stared down at the floor. "They said they picked me because I was heartless. That I was the best choice."

Ianto frowned. "And Gwen thinks the same about you at times, because of the choices you had made. That's why you are in charge around here, and not her. I can also see how upset you are thinking about it." He stood up and pulled Jack into his arms. "You have a heart, Jack. You do care. I know the toll each of those decisions have on you. I know you didn't toss those kids to the aliens without a care for them."

"Still, I did it. And because I did, they now expect us to hand over millions of children."

"Well, this time we won't let them," Ianto stated. He caressed Jack's cheek and gave him a smile. "That's what we do, Jack. We protect people from aliens. Back in 1965, it was giving over 12 children. That was then. That was probably how Torchwood worked anyway. But this is now. This is your Torchwood. And we'll find a way to send them off without a single child."

Jack gave Ianto a small smile, but it reached his eyes. Covering the hand still on his cheek, he said, "You're right. Except for one thing."

"Oh? I'm wrong on something? What, pray tell, would that be?"

"This is our Torchwood."

"Oh. Well, then in that case, do you think we can take advantage of being the bosses for, oh say, a half hour?"

Jack laughed. "Yes. I say we do." He pressed his lips to Ianto.

OoOoOoO

They packed up the cars and minivan and headed to meet Gwen and Rhys in London, leaving their families still in the Annex. Ianto had them all meet up in a warehouse that had belonged to Torchwood One, and still belonged to Torchwood. They were setting up the equipment to continue watching the proceedings and come up with a plan.

Gwen and Rhys arrived, with Clem McDonald in tow. Tosh had caught the reports on his disturbance in Bristol and Ianto had Gwen go and get him out of jail.

Jack had come from a back room, carrying some equipment found in a storage room in the basement. "Hey, once this is over, we're going to have to clean this place out," he called out to the others. "We completely missed this place when we did clean up after Canary Wharf."

He started to put the equipment down, Ianto coming up behind Jack with his hands full when suddenly Clem started yelling and shot Jack.

OoOoOoO

Jack and Ianto entered the empty Thames House. Tosh and Ianto managed to convince Prime Minister Green that they were serious about releasing video footage of the negotiations on which children would be handed over worldwide, to every television and big screen displays on the streets if they did not clear out Thames House and allow Torchwood to do their job.

They knew talking to the alien in the box wouldn't work, but they had to try. Thankfully because of Toshiko, they had a back up plan.

The alien released a toxic gas, expecting to kill the only obstacle between their demands and the government that had so willingly bent to their whims.

Once they knew what was going on, Ianto stared at the alien. "What a shame, because that was the wrong answer." He pulled out a sonic blaster they had found in a locked box in the warehouse storage room. "Because that will be your last one." He aimed the gun.

"But you are still dead," the alien responded.

"True," Ianto stated calmly, while Jack fiddled with the settings on his Vortex Manipulator. "But unlike you, we come back." Ianto fired the blaster at the clear wall of the box, creating a hole that started to grow. The creature started to scream and throw itself up against the wall as the noxious fumes started to seep out and air it could not live on started to seep in.

"Now, Tosh!" Jack yelled out. He turned to pull Ianto into his arms.

"It's going to work, Jack. Don't worry," Ianto assured him, feeling the virus start to affect him.

They both fell to their knees, giving into the virus.

Jack leaned close to Ianto, his lips against the other immortal's. "When this is over, I say we take a vacation."

"Sounds great," Ianto agreed.

"How about a honeymoon?"

"What?" Ianto grasped onto Jack more as he started to slip further to the floor.

Jack moved with him, until they lay on the floor, Jack covering Ianto's body. "Marry me, Ianto Jones."

Ianto smiled up at Jack. "Yes," he said. He moved his head so they could kiss.

They were still kissing when they died.

OoOoOoO

Using the sub wave channel, Tosh had devised a way of sending sonic pulses through the frequency the 456 used that overloaded the ship. It was a spectacular sight in the sky.

In the days that followed, Agent Johnson and her team were arrested, along with the majority of the politicians who had been behind the planning. They were facing charges of murder and treason. Torchwood was invited to Buckingham Palace and was given honours.

It was a new era. People were finding it harder to ignore what they couldn't believe before this. Now more people believed. And they knew that Torchwood was looking out for their best interests.

When Martha returned from her honeymoon with Tom, Jack and Ianto offered her a place as Chief Medical Officer in the new Torchwood London that had been sanctioned by the Crown. Jack contacted Mickey Smith, who had been running freelance since the Doctor dropped him off with Martha in London after the Earth was moved to the Medusa Cascade, and offered him the spot of Director, taking into account his work with the Torchwood in the alternate universe.

John Hart decided to spend his time between both locations. Rhys Williams and Andy Davidson joined Torchwood Three.

Gwen went onto have a baby boy named Jarrid, after the child who was with the alien in the tank and died that day.

Jack and Ianto had a civil partnership ceremony at the St. David's Hotel five months after Jarrid was born.

After Gwen had her second child, Jack and Ianto decided they wanted a family. With the Doctor's help by taken the couple to a time when male pregnancies were common, Jack became pregnant with his and Ianto's child.

OoOoOoO


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

With a gasp, Ianto opened his eyes and jumped up, knocking back the chair he sat in. He looked back as he felt something fall from behind him and saw something that looked like a giant beetle on the floor. He took out his gun and shot it.

"Who are you, Ianto Jones?" the soothsayver demanded as she jumped up and started to back away from the table. "Who are you to break this? We learned from Donna Noble and you could not have broken this."

Suddenly the back door broke down, with Tosh, Gwen and John Hart entering the building and making their way to the parlour.

The front door was kicked in, with Owen and Andy entering from that side.

Ianto glared at the woman. "Whoever you are, whatever you tried to do, it's over now."

The woman picked up a bottle. "You will not take me," she exclaimed and drank from it.

"NO!" Ianto yelled and scrambled across the table to stop her, but it was too late. "Owen!"

Owen was at his side, while Tosh opened his field kit. It was too late. The woman was already dead.

Jack entered the house and ran over to Ianto, pulling him into a hug. "Oh thank God!" he exclaimed. "I was so afraid that this time was really serious. I had this dream that you died. That you weren't immortal and you died. I really thought that meant I had lost you." He held on tighter.

Ianto understood what was upsetting Jack so much. He had felt it too. His own protective instincts had his hands on Jack's stomach, feeling great relief when he encountered the swell that was their unborn child. He leant his head against Jack's. "We should go back to the Hub for debriefing," he said instead of what he really wanted to. "And have Owen check you out."

Because Ianto knew something had happened to all of them, but there was not the place to figure it out. He was certain of one thing – he now understood why the Doctor had sent Amy and Rory to convince him to go back and sit with Jack. It was to set their timeline right.

"I'll stay behind for clean-up," Andy offered.

Jack was still too clingy and distraught to give out orders. Which was fine because that's why Ianto was also in charge of Torchwood. "Thanks Andy. Perhaps John could stay and lend a hand, get you both back to the Hub sooner so we can get your side for debriefing?"

"Just take care of Jack. We'll be there before you start to miss us," Hart said with a smirk, although his eyes reflected concern.

Owen snorted. "Like we ever do. Right then. Ianto, you can take Jack back in your car. I'll drive Jack's back. And first thing we do upon arrival is get Jack down to the med bay. Yeah?"

"Yep," Ianto asked. He started to move Jack so they could leave, and ended up looking back. His eyes settled on the insect like creature on the floor by where he had been sitting.

"What in fuck's name is that?" Owen asked.

"A Time Beetle," Hart supplied. "Nasty little fucker. Thankfully there aren't many of them to go around." He walked across the room to nudge the dead insect with his foot. "We're taking it back for study, I take it."

"Yes. We are," Jack agreed, finally speaking. He was also staring down at it. His gaze shifted to Ianto. "There's something different about it," he muttered. "Because I don't recall ever seeing something on Ianto's back."

Hart's eyes went wide. "You mean in your dream?"

"Nightmare," Jack replied. "And probably more than just that." With a heavy sigh, he clung to Ianto again. "Thank goodness it failed."

"Come on, Jack. Let's get you back to the Hub," Ianto stated. "Tosh, Gwen, do you have enough readings to head back too?"

"Yes, we do," Tosh replied for the two of them.

"I would like to take the ugly beastie back with me," Owen said, already started to bag it for removal."

Ianto and Jack both nodded in agreement. When Owen was done, Ianto glanced around at the time, "Right. Then let's get out of here," he ordered as he guided Jack to the front entrance and stepping around the destroyed door. Owen was right behind them. "Andy, John, we'll meet you both back at the Hub."

He watched Owen walk in the direction of Jack's car, which was not hard to find from the way it was parked, and then he glanced back inside the open doorway. For a moment, he watched Andy and John Hart get to work inside the room and shook his head.

Everything was not exactly the same as when he first entered the shop, but this change he felt was for the better.

OoOoOoO

Owen had cleared that Jack and the baby were fine. Immediately after, Jack fell asleep, Owen admitting he gave the Captain a mild sedative. He would not be out long, but the pregnant man needed to calm down as the stress could do him and the baby harm. Owen was hoping that a half hour nap would help. Hart called in, stating that Andy and he were heading back.

Ianto needed to sort the thoughts that muddled his head, get them in some cohesive order, and then sort out what he needed to bring up in debriefing and what could keep for now. He noticed the others seemed to need the same. He allowed them to do what helped them. For Toshiko, it was running analysis on the readings gathered from the site. For Gwen, it meant checking in with Rhys and then sitting down to researching. Owen was still in the medical bay, starting to dissect the insect. For Ianto, it meant that even though Rhys had offered to bring food for everyone when he arrived, Ianto decided he would rather walk to a nearby pub for takeaway. The walk would do him good.

He left through the Tourist Information booth, wanting to add to the walk than if he took the invisible lift up to the Plass. As he reached the Plass and turned to head over to his favourite pub for food to go, he paused for a moment. Across from him, on the end of Bute Crescent was a blue Police box. Leaning casually against it was a wiry, tall man in a brown tweed jacket, a shirt and bow tie, and a thick mop of unruly hair. His arms were folded. The man nodded in acknowledgement. Next to him were Amy and Rory. Amy started to wave wildly and went running across the street to the edge of the Plass.

"Ianto!" she called out excited.

Ianto could not help but grin. He had only met her and her husband once, and for a short time, but he felt as if she was an old friend. The same for Rory, who went to stand beside the Doctor with a huge grin on his face. It might have something to do with Ianto understanding why they had shown up that day several years ago to talk to him.

He wouldn't have been here, if it wasn't for them. The unborn child that Jack was carrying would not exist. Of all the thoughts that cluttered his mind from what felt like a dream, the thought that his and Jack's child was wiped from existence, even if temporary, disturbed him the most. Even more than his dying in Thames House, rather than successfully taking out the 456 with Jack, aided by Toshiko.

He quickened his pace and when they were close enough, he wrapped his arms around the beautiful redhead and kissed her forehead. "Thank you," he sighed. "Thank you so much."

Amy laughed, hugging him back. "It was really the Doctor who sent us to find you."

"Yes, but you and your husband managed to convince me to listen. That was you." He smiled at her and gave her another squeeze before releasing her. Amy slipped her hand through his arm as they made their way toward the two men.

Rory offered his hand for a shake, but with a wicked grin, Ianto pulled him in for a hug. "Thank you."

Rory blushed as he waved it off. "It was nothing."

"It was far from nothing, Rory." Ianto turned to face the last one.

His smile was warm and sunny as he looked at the Time Lord. "Doctor, I know we had our differences, but this..." He shook his head, realising that for once he was speechless as he stood before the Time Lord. "I'm not complaining, but why? I mean, didn't you go against everything you believe?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Not really. Not when it means setting time right. We did it before." He glanced over to Amy and Rory. "And so we did it again. Protecting timelines and all for the greater future of humankind. And you, Ianto Jones, while I did not realise it back then, I do now, and that is that you are very important to that future. You, Jack and that child of yours. I only did what was right." He shrugged, but his smile told the truth.

"You're a different man, Doctor," Ianto pointed out and not because of the obvious change in appearance.

"Well, I had good people to show me the error of my ways." The Doctor took a step toward Ianto.

Ianto met him halfway and they hugged.

"I was just going to get the team some food to have while we debrief," Ianto said as he pulled apart from the Doctor. "Would you like to join me, including debrief? After all, I suspect you have vital information that would help us put this case down as closed?"

"Of course we would, Ianto Jones. And yes, we would love to join in on your debriefing," the Doctor exclaimed, almost bouncing with energy. "I'd love to also say hello to the team again. And to see how that baby of yours is cooking. Oh dear, is that the right word?

The three humans with the Doctor laughed. Amy slid her arm through the Doctor's on one side, as Rory placed his around her waist, while Ianto grasped the Doctor by his hand on his other side to pull them along. "That's one way of putting it," Ianto assured the Doctor.

"Right. Yes. So then, I'm starving. All this saving the world and timelines can make a Time Lord hungry. They have chips there, don't they? I'm having a craving for some chips. Funny, I never had cravings before this regeneration."

Ianto chuckled. "As long as you're not pregnant."

"Pregnant? Me?" the Doctor squeaked. "Never!"

"Thank God," Amy sighed, making Ianto and Rory laugh as they entered the pub.

OoOoOoO

"I'm back," Ianto announced unnecessarily over the sound of the alarm as he entered through the cog door. "And I bring guests."

Jack, who still looked sleepy, raised his head from where he was making himself a cup of tea. Gwen jumped up from her chair at the sight of the three people accompanying Ianto.

"Ianto, who the hell is this?" Owen asked, coming over from where he was talking to Tosh at her workstation.

"Friends," Ianto replied with a grin.

Jack looked confused for a moment, having never seen these people before, and could not for the life of him think of why Ianto would bring them down into the Hub. Torchwood was no longer a secret, but their base of operations was, if only for security purposes. The Queen, along with the new government set up after the 456 incident had been after him and Ianto to have an office that could be public, where people could go to report what they believed was alien activity. Jack and Ianto had been looking into the possibility but had no set plans as of yet, except for looking into buying up an old abandoned building that had been for sale for years on Bute Place. While they were assured that they would get whatever funding they needed for sale and renovation of whatever site they selected, the two leaders of Torchwood were still working out the logistics and needs for such an extension. They had just finished refurbishing the Annex. Using the Tourist Information booth as a public face for Torchwood had been vetoed by the Crown. Something a little bigger, nicer looking in appearance was the request. In the meantime, they did manage to keep the TI booth open most of the time during normal operating hours, thanks to the expanded team.

"Since when do we bring friends down here for a visit, Ianto?" Gwen asked, frowning. Even Jack and Ianto's families were never down in the Hub, although they knew enough about Torchwood to understand what they did. Alice, Jack's daughter, even knew where they were located, but she never even showed up at the Tourist Information booth looking for Jack or Ianto. If they weren't home, she normally called.

"Oh now, Jackie boy, I know I look different, but you recognised me the last time I regenerated," the Doctor said with a sly grin.

Jack's eyes went wide. "Doctor?" he asked. He abandoned his tea to stride across the Hub and stand before the Time Lord. "Well, that time the TARDIS was a giveaway." He started to grin a little.

"It was again," Ianto assured him. "I found them lurking around a blue box over on Bute Crescent. I'm certain you can pick it up on CCTV if you need to double check me."

Jack stared at Ianto and then back to the Doctor and then to Ianto again. "I believe you," he said with a smile. Turning his attention back to the Doctor, he started to grin more. "Doctor, you're looking younger. I'm almost jealous. And look at this. Is that a bow tie?" he teased.

The Doctor straightened himself up to his full height, hands adjusting the burgundy bow tie. "Well, bow ties are cool."

Ianto snorted, Amy rolled her eyes and Rory shook his head in amusement.

Jack laughed as he went to hug the Time Lord. "If you insist, Doc. Only if you insist." He was surprised to find the Doctor enthusiastically returning the hug. When they broke apart, Jack looked over to Amy and Rory. He stepped over to them. "Captain Jack Harkness-Jones," he said with his usual charming grin as he held out his hand to Amy. "And you are?"

"Married, Captain," Rory retorted. "As are you."

Ianto sighed. "He's married, not dead. He's allowed to flirt. In fact, if he stopped, I fear I wouldn't know him."

Everyone around them started to laugh, including the Doctor.

"That's Rory Williams," Ianto said once the chuckles died down by way of introductions. "And this is his wife, Amy Pond. Obviously they both travel with the Doctor."

"I promised Amy that we would stop by to visit everyone, just to assure her that both her and her funny looking husband here succeeded in their mission."

Jack's attention went to Ianto. "Then that's why they...?"

"Apparently I needed to chase Gwen away from sitting with you so I could become immortal," Ianto stated.

Jack looked amazed as he circled round the bow-tied Doctor. "Making little immortals, Doctor? I'm shocked."

"You shouldn't be. Ianto told me himself that the two of you being immortal is right. I was wrong." His smile faded from his face and his blue grey eyes grew distant. "So very wrong," he muttered. Immediately he snapped out of his morose mood. "But that doesn't exist anymore, so it's all good." He stopped before Jack. "And I owe you an apology, Captain."

"What? Why?" Jack seemed confused.

"For not thinking. For making you out to be less the man you are. For..."

Jack clasped his hand on the Doctor's shoulder. "As you said, it doesn't exist any more. And what you did since more than makes up for it."

Ianto frowned. "I think we need to get the food sorted in the conference room and start our debriefing."

"John and Andy are unloading the SUV. They should be up in a few minutes," Jack said.

Toshiko and Gwen already had charge of the bags with food that the three had dumped on a nearby workstation.

OoOoOoO

They learnt from the Doctor about how Donna Noble had encountered a Time Beetle just before the Daleks had stolen the planets. The Doctor told them about the Trickster's Brigade, and how changes can alter a timeline or cause a parallel universe.

"Usually when a timeline is altered, it's tiny enough that the universe can compensate, and eventually all would go accordingly in the grand picture," the Doctor explained. "But Ianto Jones over here did not want to just lose himself in a parallel world. Oh no. Couldn't be anything that easy. This time the timelines changed with you, taking everyone and everything around you, the entire world, and the universe along for the ride. And because you have a greater role to play in the far future, of which I am not at liberty to further divulge -"

"Spoilers," Amy broke in with a giggle.

The Doctor glared at her. "Yes, spoilers. We have to let time run its course, as it should. And it will now, because we corrected it." He leaned back in his seat, looking quite pleased with himself.

OoOoOoO

"Too bad the woman is dead," Jack said, looking over the results much later that evening. They had regrouped around the couch, instead of the conference room.

"It's not her to worry about, Jack," Hart spoke up. "It's this Trickster's Brigade. They caused us all levels of bloody havoc back at the Agency."

Jack frowned. "I know that, John. I just meant that I would have liked to know exactly why Ianto was targeted."

Ianto gave Jack a patient smile, patting his arm. "I can see that the baby is going to scramble your brains, because it had already started. Jack, love, it's obvious why. I don't know exactly what I or we go onto achieve, but it obviously cannot happen if I'm not immortal."

Jack took a deep breath and tensing. "No," he muttered quietly. "You would have been dead by now."

"Not just me, Jack. Tosh and Owen too," Ianto pointed out. "So, one thing I'm curious about. What did happen to everyone? I mean while I was in there with the fortune teller."

Toshiko shrugged. "One moment I was attempting to cut through the perception filter with my scanner, the next I'm picking myself up from the ground. And not exactly in the same spot I last remembered. It was if, well if I was wiped out of existence, is the feeling I had."

Gwen nodded. "I felt like I was waking up from taking a nap on the ground. In a different spot than I remember. We all were. I remember Owen was with you, Jack, at the end of the alley, but when I woke up, you weren't there. It scared me. I thought we lost you both, along with Ianto. And then I remembered these things, as if I had lived through them, but they couldn't be. Tosh and Owen died because of Gray, and then Ianto died in Thames House. You left not long after." She glanced down.

"I agree with Gwen," Tosh explained. "I thought we lost Jack and Owen too. But there was John." She frowned slightly. "I recall that he wasn't with us before we blacked out, but he was there. And now I remember him arriving with us from the Hub."

"John joined after the 456. He was already helping us, like Rhys before then, but we gave them both full status on the team immediately after," Jack pointed out. "And shortly after, we extended an invitation to Andy. Except..." His eyes met Ianto's with concern.

Ianto shook his head. "Slight correction to the timeline? I suppose once disrupted, everything cannot be restored exactly." He leaned closer to Jack to rest his hand on the baby swell. "I'll accept John and Andy joining us, as long as the baby is still a part of our lives."

"He's right," Rory said. "There are worse things that could have changed."

"I would put it down as a tiny correction and nothing to be concerned about," the Doctor stated confidently.

"What made you suddenly remember, Doctor," Amy asked.

"The cracks," the Doctor replied. "After the Pandorica, after you brought me back into existence, something still felt wrong. I couldn't figure it out at first, but it was the TARDIS who did. She showed me that there was still one crack to be closed. And the only way to do that was to make sure Ianto became immortal. It all fell into place then, everything that I thought was supposed to be after meeting Lady Christina didn't feel right. Now to make a point on how tiny changes will still align themselves, I remember what caused my regeneration. Except that didn't happen that way. However, point being that I still died, and I won't bore you with the details, I still regenerated into who I am now, the TARDIS still malfunctioned and crashed in Pond's garden when she was 7 years old. Everything from then is just one timeline." He winked at Amy.

"And I thought your previous regeneration was verbose," Ianto sighed. Jack ducked his head to hide his grin.

"Ah yes, but you love it, Ianto Jones," the Doctor quipped. He waggled his eyebrows as he looked over at Ianto.

"Oi, Doctor! Was that you flirting with my husband?" Jack snapped in shock. "Stop it!"

"He's not dead, Jack. He can flirt if he wants to," Ianto remarked with a smirk.

Jack threw his hands up. "It's wrong. There's still something wrong." He jabbed a finger at Ianto. "Because you're ganging up on me with him. You do not take sides with the Doctor. When he took us so I would be able to get pregnant, all you two did was snark at each other the entire time."

"Well, I think I could like this version of the Doctor. He seems to have lost the pole during regeneration," Ianto quipped.

"Oi, what pole?!" the Doctor exclaimed.

"Nevermind," Amy said, patting his arm affectionately. "If Ianto is right, I hate to see what you were like before this."

"Now you?" The Doctor smacked his forehead. "Would it be possible if I can get another cuppa?"

"I feel the need to point out that the memories or nightmares or whatever you want to call 'em seem like they're fading away. I'm sitting here and feel myself forgetting them. Where there're two versions of an event, it's becoming one," Owen said before they closed the debriefing.

"Yes. That's right. It's normal. As I said, because you all lived, and some of you died, through a revised timeline, along with the effects of always being so close to the Rift, you will remember both for a short while. But most likely by tomorrow, you'll all wake up tomorrow, you won't remember the previous timelines and only this one."

Ianto peered over to John, Andy and Rhys. "By the way, welcome to Torchwood," he stated with a smirk. "If we're finished here, I'll make us all drinks for the road, and I suggest we close it up for the night. It's time Jack got some sleep anyway."

"Not arguing," Jack stated. "Especially after today. Oh, Ianto, while you were out gallivanting with the Doctor and his friends, I called Alice and then Rhiannon. We're expected at Alice's for lunch tomorrow, and Rhiannon is going to meet us at ours for dinner." He looked around at everyone who was now his team. "And unless it's the end of the world, Ianto and I have the day off."

"And since we had a brush with the eventual end of the universe today, I don't expect that likely to happen until late next week at the earliest," Ianto stated breezily as he strode across the room to make everyone coffee and tea in travel cups.

"I'll close up," Toshiko said. "I would like to get these proceedings logged into our files."

The Doctor frowned. "You won't remember most likely by tomorrow."

"Exactly," Toshiko exclaimed, standing up to go back to her workstation. She gathered her laptop and PDA and gave the Doctor a smile.

"We have temporal files," Jack explained. "To be accessed only in temporal emergencies. It's better to have something to reference than nothing at all."

"Really? Temporal files, you say," the Doctor said. "Who created these files?"

"Tosh did, along with some help from Ianto and some input from me," Jack explained. "She's brilliant, you know. So is Ianto. I fear one day the two of them will decide to take over the universe."

"And they'll succeed," Hart commented with a sigh. "If those two ran the Time Agency, it might never have become corrupt."

Toshiko smiled at Hart, blushing slightly. She turned away from him when she felt Owen's arm go possessively around her. "Why don't you get those files logged so we can go home, love?" Owen asked sweetly.

"Of course." Toshiko tried not to laugh. Looking over at the Doctor, she asked, "It's great to see you again, Doctor. I'm sure we'll be seeing you again soon?"

"Like for the baby shower," Gwen called out as she started to gather her things to leave.

Jack had a pained expression on his face. "What baby shower?" he squeaked.

"Did Jack just squeak?" the Doctor laughed. "Oh please, someone tell me they have a recording of this I can take with me. The TARDIS would love to have that recording in her records."

Jack growled, but everyone ignored him.

"Your baby shower, Jack," Gwen said. "And no, I won't tell you when. That will be a surprise."

Ianto returned with a tray with everyone's drinks. "Give it up, Jack. I already tried, and she won. It's just easier this way."

Jack slumped further down on the couch, folding his arms.

Rhys laughed. "Cheer up, mate. It can't be too bad. After all, there won't be anyone there that you haven't embarrassed yourself around."

Jack jumped to his feet, with an indignant look on his face. "Ianto! We're going home!"

Ianto snickered as Jack grabbed his coat. He set the tray down, picking up two cups. "Doctor, will you be around tomorrow?"

"Most likely. I might even try to talk you and Ianto into taking a little trip. There's a nice little resort planet in the Sauterian nebula. Much like those pleasure worlds, only this one is family oriented."

"Gee, where's the fun in that?" Hart muttered.

"I thought a nice little holiday would be in order. A few days to completely relax and shake off the stress from, well, the last few years, it would seem. Good for the baby and all. They have classes and spas that specialise in male pregnancies and pampering both partners involved."

"Sounds great, Doctor, but it can't be tomorrow. Ianto and I have to meet with our families, and we can't take the chance of coming back later than we plan."

"How does the day after sound?" Ianto asked.

"We can do that," the Doctor agreed.

"Right," Amy exclaimed. "So tomorrow, we'll go shopping. And the next day we take a trip with Ianto and Jack." She clapped her hands.

"Don't sound too happy," Rory muttered, staring at the two extremely handsome men.

"We're married, Rory," Ianto pointed out. "So day after tomorrow then?"

"Bright and early," the Doctor exclaimed.

Amy slipped Ianto a paper. "My mobile number. Call me in the morning and let me know when it will be a good time for you."

Ianto grinned as he pocketed the paper, the number already committed to memory. Jack also grinned at her. With a wink, he saluted her, "Yes ma'am!"

Amy laughed. Everyone said their good nights and left for the night, leaving Tosh and Owen behind to close up.


	9. Chapter 9

****This is the last chapter to this story. I hope everyone enjoyed. Lots of thanks to everyone who reviewed, favored and put on alert. *HUGS*

* * *

**EPILOGUE:**

**November 2011**

Ianto nearly spit out his drink as he watched Gwen start to place a paper plate with bows on Jack's head.

Jack started and stared at the Welshwoman. "What the hell is this?" he insisted, pushing her hand away.

"It's tradition, Jack," Gwen insisted and giggled.

Amy nodded her head in agreement. "It is."

Rhiannon, who was entering the sunroom in Alice's house where the baby shower was being held, and carrying refreshments, looked over and started to laugh. "Ianto, take pictures!" she demanded.

"Oh, suck it up, Jack. It's all about the fun," the Doctor advised him.

Ianto snorted and sat back, getting his camera ready.

"Easy for you to say, Doctor," Jack complained. "You're not expected to wear this."

"You obviously need to travel more with us," the Doctor stated. "The things Amy has forced us to wear."

"Like bloody ponchos," Rory muttered.

"Oh shush you," Amy said to her husband.

Alice laughed and walked over to hug her father. "Oh come on, Dad. Put it on for me? Please?"

Jack rolled his eyes. "This is so wrong," he sighed, but ever since his relationship with Alice and Stephen had improved, he found it as hard to say no to her as it was when she was a little girl.

Rhys started to laugh. "This is why men should not be having the kids, mate."

"Just remember, this is Torchwood, Rhys," Jack stated with a smirk. "Anything can happen."

"Not that!" Andy yelped at the same time Rhys looked fearful.

"Well Andy, first you need to get laid," Hart said with a laugh.

Ianto leaned forward toward Jack and said softly, "Jack." He waited for his husband's attention before continuing. "That's um..." he indicated the makeshift hat Alice was now tying on his head. Ianto gazed at Jack with a leer, and licked his lips. "Fun."

Jack suddenly sat up straight in his chair and turned to face Ianto. "Really?" he asked.

"Oh yes," Ianto replied, his eyes meeting Jack. "I already have a list."

Jack grinned at Ianto and gave no one any more problems with putting bows and ribbons from gifts onto the paper plate hat he wore. Jack decided the overflow should be stuck on Ianto's shirt.

OoOoOoO

Once they arrived home and closed the door behind Amy, Rory and the Doctor, who had helped them bring back the gifts they received (actually, it was Rory and Amy who did all the heavy work, with assistance by Rhys, who left once the last item was in), Ianto picked up the bag filled with bows and ribbons.

"Come on, Jack," he said, grinning at Jack, his blue eyes sparkling with desire. "It's been a long day and I believe you earned yourself some pampering."

Jack's eyes fixed on the bag and with a huge smile went over to wrap his arms around Ianto. "I'm not going to argue," he stated and allowed Ianto to pull him toward the master bedroom.

OoOoOoO

**December 2011**

Alice ran across the Plass. Toshiko stood near the paving stone for the Invisible Lift and waved. Once Alice came up to Toshiko, the Japanese technician hugged the dark haired woman. "There's still time. Ianto's sister is almost here, but I'll take you down so you could be with your dad and Ianto."

"Would you, Tosh? Thank you."

"It's my pleasure, Alice," Toshiko said as she guided Alice onto the stone for the lift. "Jack insisted that Owen was not to go near him to cut until you were there. Ianto is making sure Owen doesn't try it."

Alice laughed as the lift started to make its way down. "We're family," Alice said with a warm smile. "Me, Dad and Ianto. And Stephen, of course."

"I'm just so glad that you and Jack had a second chance."

"So am I. And pretty soon I'm going to have a baby brother." Alice laughed. "It should feel strange that my dad is having a baby and by another man who is almost half my age. And yet, I've been seeing Ianto more like one of my dads than someone younger than me. It just feels so great to have a family again. We have a real family and tonight there will be an addition."

"Jack and Ianto most certainly will have enough babysitters whenever they need some time alone," Toshiko laughed.

"And Rhodri will have plenty of loving aunts and uncles." She hugged Toshiko again. "You're all part of Dad's family, and that makes you part of mine."

Toshiko blushed and then watched as Alice made her way across the Hub toward Owen, who started to lead her into a tunnel that led to the room set up for the delivery.

When it was determined that Jack would be delivering in the Hub, Jack and Ianto decided they wanted family who were closest to them there for the birth. That meant Alice and Rhiannon, and both women were excited and honoured to be there. As it worked out, Jack and Ianto ended up living in the Hub for the last two weeks. Jack was overdue, and Owen still did not want to deliver until Jack went into labour. It was at the Doctor's advice and Owen found himself agreeing with the Time Lord after going over the material on male pregnancies Jack and Ianto had with them when they had returned from their trip to the future so Jack could get pregnant. Owen wanted Jack near the Hub from the week before his due date so there would be no complications in getting him to the Hub if he went into labour at home. He worried about a vast number of complications in getting Jack from their home in Pontypridd to the Hub, and any point in between when Jack went into labour.

Before that, for the last couple of months, Jack had been pretty much confined to the Hub or their house, with only a little relief using a perception filter here and there.

Jack was ready to have the baby and leave the Hub. He wanted to be in their home, in the quaint old house they renovated with the Taft River beyond their back garden.

Alice knocked on the door and heard Ianto call out for her to enter. She came into the room to find Ianto sitting in a chair next a bed where Jack was settled on. Ianto was holding on of Jack's hands in both of his as they talked softly. Both men turned and smiled when they saw Alice.

"Alice, welcome," Ianto greeted.

Alice went over to the men and hugged Ianto. "It's time!" she said excited.

"It is," Ianto agreed. "You're about to become a big sister."

"Really big sister," Alice said with a laugh as she pulled away from Ianto and turned to her father. "Dad, how are you doing?"

"Better now," Jack said, giving her a huge, dopey smile.

"You're lucky you just got here," Ianto said. "Owen decided he had to get Jack ready for surgery and the drugs are just hitting. Before that, I think Jack was ready to ban me from the Hub until the baby was born."

Alice laughed, hugging her father. "Oh Dad! Please say Mum did that to you."

"She tried, but she couldn't," Jack replied, shifting carefully so Alice could sit on the edge of the bed with him. "It turns out that I was most sympathetic to her difficulties during pregnancy and shared the better times." He gave her a lopsided grin. "Pissed the shit out of her and yet she couldn't do anything mean to me."

Ianto snorted. When Jack looked at him, Ianto leaned over to caress the swell of Jack's belly with a soft smile. "And you said you'd never do this again."

"Never mind all my threats before," Jack said, covering Ianto's hand. "I'd do this again for you."

"You might have to if my sister doesn't get here bloody soon, because she'll miss the birth this time."

Alice laughed, feeling at ease with both men. Ever since her renewed relationship with her father, she took the time to get to know Ianto, knowing he was going to be a part of Jack's life for a very very long time. That meant that Ianto would be a part of her and Stephen's life. She appreciated that Ianto never attempted to be her stepfather, and yet the younger man had a maturity about him that she forgot that he was about half her age. She found herself going to Ianto for advice as much as she would go to Jack. Maybe more, because Ianto had the knack of acting more mature than Jack.

Stephen had taken to Jack going from his uncle to grandfather very well, and once he realised that Ianto was his grandfather's partner, the boy took to calling Ianto 'Tad-cu'. Ianto never let on one way or another if it bothered him that he was considered a grandfather at his age. One thing Alice did know was that Ianto absolutely adored Stephen and treated him like family. Stephen and Ianto's nephew, David, had also become good friends, and the adults suspected that Mica had a crush on Stephen.

In the aftermath of the 456, when Alice decided to let her father completely back into their lives, she gained more than just her father. She gained a family that also included Ianto, his sister and his sister's family.

Alice had no regrets.

They heard a knock on the door and it opened to allow Owen to enter. "Ianto, your sister is pulling into the carpark, so it's my cue to finish getting Jack prepared.

Alice hugged Jack again and kissed his cheek. "Stephen says he can't wait to see the baby." She stood up and hugged Ianto again. "I'll go get Rhiannon and we'll meet you back here."

Owen shook his head as he watched Alice leave the room. "She definitely has your energy, Jack," he commented.

Jack grinned. "She lost it for a while," he said. "So it feels so good to see her like this. Especially over having a baby brother at this point in her life."

"Well, are we going to have a baby or what?" Ianto asked.

As Owen started to get his equipment ready, Jack said. "I'll be having this baby, thank you. Maybe in a few centuries you can have your turn."

Ianto stuck his tongue out for a response.

By the time Alice returned with Rhiannon in tow, Owen was ready to make the first incision.

OoOoOoO

Ianto sat in the rocking chair Alice had given them as a gift. For the moment it was in the bedroom, since they were going to keep Rhodri in there with them for a while before putting him in his nursery. Jack had delivered Rhodri the night before. After a few hours of sleep, Jack woke up already starting to heal. Rhodri had passed Owen's certification of good health, so he had allowed Ianto to bring the newly expanded little family home.

Martha was due to arrive later that evening with her husband, Tom. Martha was to provide a second opinion on Jack's recovery, while Tom was to give Rhodri another examination. Jack and Ianto had already asked Tom to be the baby's paediatrician. Martha was given an offer transfer Torchwood Three because Jack and Ianto were looking into expanding the staff. Mickey and Martha had a full staff in London, including enough doctors to spare Martha. Tom was open to moving to Cardiff and opening a practice there while trying to start a family. During the visit, Martha was to get all her options to make the decision.

They had recently had a late lunch and while Jack seemed to be recovering quickly, thanks to his immortality, he was still tired and currently asleep on his side of the bed while Ianto cuddled their newborn son, rocking gently in the chair. He was just enjoying the moment. Rhodri was also just fed and falling asleep. It was peaceful in the house, something that Ianto knew would be a rare moment, and vowed to take advantage of it whenever the mood presented itself. Not that he would ever complain about the other times involving a newborn and later a child growing up. Hopefully maybe more than one.

"I need a picture," came Jack's sleepy voice from the bed.

"What?" Ianto asked, starting to stand up.

"No, stay there. I want to watch you and Rhodri like that a while. But I also need a picture. And get a special frame. You and our son in that chair. I can stare at it all day."

Ianto smiled and gazed down at the baby in his arms. As much as he hated to disappoint Jack, he finally stood up and walked over to the bed. "We should be fair about this. I love watching you with Rhodri too." He held the baby out to the older immortal.

Jack took his son without complaint, cradling the baby in his arms. Ianto moved around the bed and climbed on. He settled next to Jack, smiling when Jack shimmied forward enough so Ianto could sit behind Jack. He slipped his arms around his husband and rested his chin on a strong shoulder. He let out a deep content sigh.

Jack twisted his head to lightly kiss Ianto. "Thank you," he said.

"No, thank you. It was you that did all the hard work for all these months."

"Yes, I know, but I had help making Rhodri. And that was more than just Rhodri. He only makes it more perfect. Thank you for loving me, Ianto."

"We're even, Jack."

They settled down as they were, deeply content and happy. They were quite content to stay like that until Ianto had to get ready to go meet Martha and Tom at the train station.


End file.
